Not Quite Heroes
by MatthewC
Summary: A dangerous piece of hightech equipment has been stolen from a secret lab, and a familiar duo sets out to retrieve it.  The twist?  The lab belongs to a blueskinned mad scientist, which means the duo are Drakken and Shego.  High Adventure, bad guy style!
1. Opener

(NOTE: This is a teaser. The rest of the story is in normal narrative format, so if you dislike script format, you might want to skip straight to chapter one. I just couldn't resist a new opener.)

_SCENE: The opening music of the Kim Possible television show begins. We see the wire frame Kim appear, solidify and start to turn cartwheels along her name._

DRAKKEN: (voiceover) Hold it right there!

_The opening freeze-frames._

DRAKKEN: (voiceover) Not so fast, Possible. For this story, we're the stars of the show.

SHEGO: (voiceover) Buh-bye, Kimmie.

_There's a horrible screeching sound as the opening sequence jerkily reverses itself and fades back to darkness._

_The show begins again, but this time things are a little different. A wire frame figure of Shego appears, and a text scroll starts to the right of her on the screen._

Shego

She Never Fails

Agent for Destruction to Conquer the World

Drakken's Go-To Girl

Graduate of Yamanuchi Ninja School

Former Superhero

Be Afraid

Ready for Action

_Just as this last appears, the wire figure of Shego solidifies and we hear the whoosh of green plasma being thrown punctuating the start of the music. The tune is familiar, but the words are different._

"Oh, no!"

_SCENE: We see Drakken driving a small hover vehicle, over the giant word 'Drakken,' avoiding laser bolts. Shego stands in the rear, firing back with her plasma._

_SCENE: We switch to a coat-less Drakken typing desperately at a keyboard. Shego stands guard, seemingly warding off something just off-screen._

"We're your basic su-preme pair, and we're here to rule the world."

_SCENE: Shego is standing in a doorway into open air, Kim right in front of her. She blows a kiss to Kim, then falls back into the void._

"You can't stop us cause we're Shego and Drak-ken."

DRAKKEN: (voiceover) No top billing for the sidekick!

_SCENE: Drakken is working at a machine on his lab bench. He flips on the power and is delighted that it seems to be functioning._

"There is nothing we can't do,"

_SCENE: Drakken and Shego stand in front of a giant view screen, talking to Dr. Director._

"And when we're on our way, just know that danger comes"

(softer) "Know that we are dangerous."

_SCENE: Shego and Drakken both staring up at an oak tree in Drakken's lab, looking mystified._

"It doesn't matter where or when; we're trouble,

_SCENE: Drakken stares at the screen, smiling in glee. His fingertips are pushed together, and he looks incredibly confident._

"We'll make you scream our names, Drakken and Shego!"

_SCENE: Shego is waiting in line at the post office in civilian clothes, chatting to the person in front of her and looking surprisingly happy._

"Run and flee us, if you hate to see us,"

"When you want to serve us, that's okay."

"Whenever we scare you, loser."

_SCENE: Drakken is singing karaoke, while Shego watches, bored._

"Run and flee us, if you hate to see us.

(softer) Run and flee us, or else you might see us."

_SCENE: Drakken is dangling by one hand from the edge of steeply angled air vent. Beneath him stretches the void of the open sky, the ground far below. In terror, he starts to lose his grip._

DRAKKEN: (voiceover) Shego!

_SCENE: Shego sitting next to Ron, playing a video game with him._

"Doesn't matter where, doesn't matter when,"

_SCENE: Shego is holding the stick of an open-hatched hovercraft. It's smoking from the engines, and she's desperately trying to keep it in the air. Drakken is hunched over the engines, trying to fix them even as they start to fall._

"We'll keep trying, until the day we win."

_SCENE: Drakken tears off his lab coat and throws it away. It looks like it's dissolving from acid. Then he points a ray gun straight at the screen._

"Danger or trouble, you know we'll cause double."

_SCENE: A battered Shego is backed into a corner by a thousand henchmen wearing purple jumpsuits and holding electrically charged clubs. She surrounds her hands with green plasma and charges them with a silent roar._

"You know that you always will fear,"

"Drakken and Shego!"

Drakken's villainous laugh forms the bridge out of the music.

_We see Shego talking into a phone._

SHEGO: "So what's the plan?"

The chorus reverbs one last time, "Run and flee us, if you hate to see us!"

* * *

Notes: The outline for this sucker clocked in at 10 pages and took me a week to write, but at least I have the whole thing "storyboarded" now, with the scenes all laid out. Just have to write it. I'm not kidding about the high adventure, though I'm mixing it with a lot of characterization for our two favorite villains. Hope my first action fic works well. 


	2. Life In The Lair

Shego opened her eyes and breathed in the hot, dry Los Angeles air. Overhead was the ceiling of her apartment, still a bit unfamiliar after only a week of sleeping there. On the nightstand next to her, the radio alarm blared with the sound of an early morning traffic report. Shego shut it off with a flip of the switch and sat up.

She ran a hand through her long black hair, still tangled from a night asleep. Throwing back the sheets, Shego put her feet to the floor and began doing her morning stretches. Up and down and back and forth. _The price I pay for keeping in shape_, she thought to herself. The meteor powers probably gave her an edge (it was hard to tell sometimes, she'd lived with them so long) but she needed exercise to keep that edge sharp.

After the stretches came the morning routine. One-armed push-ups, sit-ups, jogging in place, she ran through them all. There was a limit to what Shego could do on her bedroom floor, of course, but this wasn't anything serious, just a little morning maintenance. After a while she stopped, sweat starting to build up, and headed for the shower.

Random thoughts wandered through her head as the water poured over her. _I wonder if Kimmie has her own morning routine? I'll bet she does. I wonder what Dr. D would think if I suggested taping it? He'd probably get uncomfortable and nervous; the old guy can be so 'proper' about things sometime. It would be worth suggesting just to make him squirm._ Shego smiled at the thought of Drakken squirming as she turned off the shower. It was one of her major sources of entertainment.

The smile faded as she put on her uniform and contemplated the last step of her morning routine. She was tempted to just blow it off and cook something for breakfast, but…. _I already skipped all weekend_, Shego thought.

With a sigh, she settled into the ground and carefully folded her legs into a meditative posture. _Oh, I really hate this; oh, I really hate this_, were the mantras running through her mind as she tried to control her breathing. It was difficult. Shego was not what you would call a serene person by nature, but at last she reached a place she could tell herself was harmony. With a sigh of relief, she immediately let it go and stood up. Some techniques were definitely more fun than others to practice.

A toast and two eggs later, and Shego was riding her motorcycle to the new Los Angeles lair. It was a large office complex with an attached bay for machinery and experiments. When Shego had helped steal it, everything had been well-lit and clean on the inside. Of course, Drakken had insisted on breaking or dimming a lot of the lights for atmosphere, but you still couldn't beat the location. Being able to drive home to a private apartment every day was a nice luxury, compared to the more remote lairs.

One of the henchmen was standing guard duty just inside the door. Shego didn't recognize him under the usual cowl and visor. _Not that I care about getting to know these guys_, she thought. _A 'hey you' and one is as good as another._

"Hey you, where's Drakken?" demanded Shego.

He gestured inside and grunted, "In the lab."

Shego checked the clock and made a disgusted noise. "Of course he is. So either he's in early, which I'm somehow not seeing, or he never went to sleep."

The henchman just stared back, making Shego feel foolish for wasting her time bantering with him. She made herself feel better by casually shoving him to the side as she walked in, knowing that he (whoever he was) wouldn't dare respond.

* * *

Shego looked around the laboratory, unable to immediately spot Drakken. Naturally, this annoyed her. The place was bigger than his usual labs, consisting of a huge bay with all sorts of equipment blocking line of sight in all directions. Rather than call for him, she scrambled to the top of some machinery and looked around. _Nope, nope, ah- there he is at that bench. Right next to the- what is that thing doing here!_ Shego thought.

She jumped easily from machine to machine, crossing the room in an instant, before landing neatly next to Drakken. "Late night, Dr. D?" she asked.

Drakken had his head bent over a magazine, apparently engrossed in an article within. He grunted a response, not even looking up.

Of course, Shego reacted in a calm, reasoned manner. She ripped the magazine out of his hands and looked at the article herself. Drakken howled a protest, which she naturally ignored. She did say, "Okay, article appears to be about the reproductive habits of African elephants. Struggling to think of a reason this isn't a complete waste of your time to read. Struggling… struggling… failing."

Drakken was trying to put together a response, but he interrupted himself with a massive yawn. There were dark circles under his eyes. Well, there were always dark circles under his eyes, of course, but just at the moment they seemed darker than usual. His lab coat was wrinkled and was just beginning to acquire a certain odor, and he seemed to have a hard time keeping his eyes open, now that Shego had broken him out of whatever trance he had put himself in.

In consideration of Drakken's state of exhaustion, Shego patiently waited while he reset his brain to conversational mode. _I'm such a sweetheart_, she told herself.

"I can't afford to fall behind in any field of science, Shego," said Drakken. He made a grab for the magazine, which Shego artfully kept away from him.

"Okay, have we or have we not discussed this before, Doc? You are not a zoologist. You're barely a biologist. Mad science or not, one guy can't be an expert at everything." As she spoke, Shego rolled up the magazine and gently batted Drakken on the side of his head with it to make her point.

He shook off the blow in irritation. "I am the world's greatest genius! I can at the very least keep current on what's going on in all fields of science, even the ones that aren't… er, that aren't my specialties."

Shego just shrugged, indicating that she was giving up the argument, and she tossed the magazine back on the workbench_. I have to give him credit, he tries so hard sometimes I think he really is an expert on twenty things at once. If he'd only read something not science-related once in a while_, Shego thought. Of course she didn't say it aloud. Drakken's ego didn't need any stroking right now.

"What are you doing here this late?" asked Drakken.

"Someone's not paying attention to the clock. Oh look, it's you. It's morning, Doc. You worked through the entire night, and believe me, you're not a pretty sight right now."

Drakken glanced down at his coat and made a feeble effort to brush it off. "I had some work to get done," he said without much confidence.

Shego put one finger to the side of her face and put on an expression of fake interest. "Really. Interesting you should say that, because I was wondering about your work. In specific, THAT THING! What is _that_ doing here? It wasn't here when I left." She pointed at an object towering over the both of them, about ten feet away.

'That thing' was a thirty foot tall oak tree. It was alive, rooted in a tub of soil large enough to fill a large fountain, and it had obviously been moved there by means of heavy equipment. A skylight above gave it some sunlight, though Shego doubted it would survive if left in the laboratory very long.

Drakken worked his jaw thoughtfully, trying to recall the answer to Shego's question. He pointed towards the top branches of the oak tree. "Well you see, it…." He trailed off.

Shego and Drakken both looked up towards the tree, trying to figure out what Drakken had been about to say. Their faces held identical expressions of puzzlement.

Finally, Shego glared back at Drakken. "I can't say I haven't been expecting this day. I knew you'd finally lose it completely sooner or later. I just thought we'd be in a remote lair in the mountains. Snow and ice, drives a man to madness every time. Who loses their grip on reality in LA?"

"Be quiet Shego, I've had a busy night," said Drakken. He correctly interpreted Shego's current fit of pique as one those times when she was being sarcastic just to hear herself talk and not to be taken seriously. He was proven correct when Shego just rolled her eyes and tossed her hair in response.

Drakken's gaze passed over the jumble of objects on his workbench. _Oak… oak… oak. Sprayer. Test, chemical test_, he thought. Finally he spotted a small basket of acorns, and managed to dig up the memory he had been searching for.

"Ah-hah!" Drakken said. He grabbed an acorn out of the basket, and using a small hammer kept next to it for just such a purpose, cracked it open. Spinning, he reached out and pushed the acorn meat into Shego's mouth. So unexpected was the move that Shego did nothing to prevent it.

She chewed thoughtfully. "It's sweet," she said.

"Yes Shego. About one in two hundred oak trees have a genetic mutation that makes their acorns sweet instead of bitter. Unfortunately, it's a combination of alterations to several genes, so growers have never been able to get those kinds of trees to breed true," said Drakken. There was a note of pleasure in his voice. Even if it wasn't an evil scheme, he always did enjoy explaining things. It gave him a most wonderful feeling of superiority.

"So this is one of those mutant trees?" asked Shego.

"Not at all! It used to grow your ordinary bitter acorns, until I sprayed it with a special chemical of mine. I had it trucked in to check to results and look. Sweet acorns all around!" Drakken spread his arms wide in triumph. "Who's barely a biologist now, Shego? Who, I ask you?"

"Yeah, good one, doc. Why did you do this again?" said Shego in a not particularly enthused tone.

"Well I…." Drakken froze, thinking again. "It was some time ago. I think I had some plan of spraying the world's crops to make them… something, something. It never quite panned out. But the important thing is that I _succeeded_."

Before Shego could launch more sarcasm, Drakken let out an enormous yawn. He rubbed his eyes. "Well, now that you've interrupted my chain of thought so thoroughly, Shego, I believe I'm going to get some sleep. Don't go anywhere. I'm sure I'll have some errands for you this afternoon."

He had just stumbled a few paces towards the exit, when Shego's voice stopped him. "Doctor Drakken?"

"Yes, Shego?"

"Did you keep any notes on how you made the chemical that makes the sweet acorns?" Shego asked, her voice very business-like.

"Why… yes, in the green notebook on the bench. I pulled it out to check when the tree arrived. Why?" asked Drakken, very tired.

"I'm going to shoot it off to Malcom," said Shego.

"Malcom? Excellent, Shego. Excellent. This _would_ be the sort of thing for him, wouldn't it? You give him a call," said Drakken as he walked out of the room.

Shego waited until her boss had retreated from sight, then dug around until she found the appropriate notebook. She pulled out her cell phone and looked at it reluctantly. _I hate talking to Malcom_, she thought. There was no help for it, though, and Shego dialed the number.

There were a couple of rings, and then a cool male voice with a slight British accent came on the line. "Ah, Ms. Shego. I was just about to call you. How nice of you to anticipate me."

Shego gritted her teeth. "I'm not anticipating you, Malcom. I called because Dr. Drakken wants you to do your job. He's come out with something. Plant product, so one of the ones with some kind of botanical background."

"No need to discuss this over the phone, Ms. Shego. I'm awaiting you outside the building. Please come out and escort me in past the guard, will you? Many thanks." There was a click as Malcom abruptly hung up.

Shaking with anger, Shego tore a huge chunk out of the workbench using her claws and green plasma. _How dare he talk to me like that_, she thought. _As if I work for him and he can order me around. Just because he worked for Drakken before I came on board. If Dr. D didn't need what he does.…_

She forced herself to calm down. After a moment, she walked back to the entrance, taking a deliberately circuitous route so as to make Malcom wait.

When Shego finally stepped outside, however, Malcom gave no sign of impatience. He was contriving to use his time productively, working on his PDA. Malcom looked to be in his fifties and was dressed in a tastefully tailored business suit. Shego could never quite place his ethnicity. He looked vaguely Asian, vaguely Arabic, vaguely a lot of things. Not that Shego put much thought into Malcom or his parentage. She didn't like thinking of him much at all.

Shego walked up next to Malcom. He ignored her, continuing to type something on his PDA. She gave a grunt to attract his attention, but there was still no reaction. Finally, she peeked over his shoulder, trying to see what he was typing. Just as she did, however, he closed his PDA and looked up at her. "Ah, Ms. Shego. Apologies, was just finishing up an important email."

"What are you doing here, Malcom?" said Shego.

"I was coming through LA on business. Since our mutual employer has settled in a major metropolitan center for once, I thought I'd stop and drop off some papers that need signing, check in and see how Drew is doing, that sort of thing." Malcom smiled, showing clean white teeth.

"That's Drakken, not Drew," snarled Shego.

"Oh, of course. It's just that I've been in his employ so long, I still sometimes think of him as Drew. He's most understanding of my slip-ups."

The most galling thing was that he was right. Shego had seen Drakken calmly ignore it when Malcom occasionally called him 'Drew'. It was a name that Drakken otherwise only tolerated coming from his mother. One of the henchmen using it would be the equivalent of attempted suicide, and even Shego herself would only use 'Drew' if she wanted to make Drakken angry.

"This is a bad time," said Shego. "He's been up working all night, and he just went to bed. Give me the papers, and I'll make sure he signs them."

Malcom cocked his head, and for a moment Shego wondered if he was going to argue with her. _I'd really love an excuse to wipe that smug look off his face_, thought Shego. Unlike her, Malcom was surely replaceable.

However, he only said, "Of course. Another time then. Let me just get those papers." He picked up his briefcase and opened it, retrieving a folder of documents that he passed to Shego.

Shego took them with a grunt.

"Now then, you were saying on the phone that Drakken has come out with something new?" said Malcom. For the first time, there was a genuine avaricious enthusiasm in his voice.

"Yeah. He invented this chemical spray for oak trees. You spray it on an oak, and it makes them produce sweet acorns instead of bitter acorns. I figure it'll be worth money to the food industry or the farmers, or something." Shego extended the green notebook, which Malcom quickly accepted.

"Oh, I'm sure I can sell this to an interested party, and I know just the identity to use, too. Michael Greensborough, noted chemist with a sideline in botany. He hasn't produced anything since the chemical distilled from zucchinis that cures foot fungus," said Malcom, positively beaming. He added, "I don't mind saying Ms. Shego, it's been a bit of a dry spell lately. I was getting concerned."

This was the secret pipeline that fed Drakken's schemes. Even though Drakken, with Shego's assistance, outright stole what he needed whenever he could, there was a lot of overhead involved in conquering the world. Lairs had to be furnished, components had to be ordered, trees had to be transplanted, groceries had to be bought, and salaries had to be paid. Shego was most insistent on this last one.

Fortunately, Drakken was a mad genius with a lot of ideas. A _lot_ of ideas. Most of them, granted, were bad ideas. Idiotic, even. By rough estimation, Shego figured that maybe 1 in 7 of Drakken's ideas were what she termed "non-stupid". Of these, Drakken occasionally developed one to the point where someone, somewhere would pay money for it. That was where Malcom came in. He was a combination of lawyer and accountant, and it was his job to sell the technology through a variety of cover identities and launder the money safely back to Drakken. Of course, Drakken would never sell off anything he thought would actually help him conquer the world, but a lot of his research projects ended up wandering off in directions he hadn't meant to go. His failed death rays alone had probably advanced certain areas of laser technology 50 years.

Shego neither knew nor cared about the financial details. It wasn't her area. She had, however, once taken great pleasure in demonstrating to Malcom what she would do to him if he was ever discovered taking more than his fair share of the proceeds (whatever that was). If it had made Malcom nervous, he hadn't shown it in the slightest.

There was, Shego occasionally thought, a certain irony in the fact that Drakken's inventions had probably helped a lot more people than they had ever harmed. Of course, that was because his attempts to harm people with them were regularly foiled, but it would still have looked a bit funny if certain segments of the villainous community knew about it.

Shego made a dismissive noise in answer to Malcom's concerns. "It's hit or miss with big blue. No predicting it. You should know that by now. If it makes you feel any better, I'm taking him working through the night as a sign he's about to go into one of his manic phases. We ought to be seeing a lot of ideas from him. We'll see if any of them are good ideas."

Malcom nodded. "There is, ah, one thing more. Joel Kord, an identity I've used to sell a lot of the laser projects. Apparently there's a small lawsuit arising from one of his inventions. It might be a bit tricky if-"

"Blah, blah, blah," interrupted Shego. "You take care of it. That's what you're there for."

Malcom sighed. "Oh course. A pleasure as always, Ms. Shego." He tucked the green notebook safely into his briefcase and walked back to the street, hailing a cab.

Shego nodded in satisfaction and walked back inside.

* * *

Drakken pushed open the door of the office he'd chosen as his living quarters. None of the rooms in the building had really been intended as apartments, but this one had been intended for a high-level executive who might occasionally need to stay overnight when working on a project. Consequently, it had an attached bathroom with a small shower.

Drakken hadn't had the time or desire to put a lot of effort into decorating the place. There was a chest of drawers with spare clothing, a bed, and a picture of his mother on the wall. In his drowsy state, Drakken looked at the room as if seeing it for the first time. _Not exactly appropriate for the future ruler of the world_, he thought.

Before he could stop it, his brain was already off and running. He thought, _Install an intercom so I can boom commands through the lair whenever I feel like it. Maybe a smoke generator so that if anyone stops by, it will seem like a dark and mysterious lair of evil. Of course, that'll make it hard to breathe… better add some oxygen masks along the wall and-_

Rapidly slapping himself in the head brought the flow of thoughts to a halt. Sleep, he needed sleep. This was no time to get sidetracked onto lair design. Drakken stripped down to his boxers and an undershirt. As always, his fingers felt a bit sensitive when he first pulled them out of the protective gloves he usually wore. As he was considering this, he collapsed onto the bed.

Sleep failed to come immediately. _One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, pi sheep_, Drakken counted off to himself. _I wonder if I could invent a gas to make people grow a wool coat like a sheep. If I sprayed it in the summer, that could drive them out of hot cities. No, that's silly. I should create something that will make grass digestible like sheep can eat it. Then destroy the rest of the food supply, and people will have to serve me if they want to be able to eat the grass. Or maybe I could alter the wool of sheep so that anyone wearing clothing made from it will obey my commands. Or I could create robot sheep and use them to replace regular sheep, spreading them over the world until my robot sheep army arises to conquer the world for me. With laser beam eyes and baaahhing that doubles as a sonic blast_, thought Drakken.

With a moan, Drakken sat up on bed. He came to the unpleasant realization that he wasn't going to be able to get to sleep. Not with all these ideas spilling out of his brain at the slightest provocation. It was the downside of being a mad genius. You couldn't just shut it off when you wanted to.

_Perhaps I should go have breakfast_, thought Drakken. _Yes, some coffee and cereal with a little moo-juice, and I'll feel much better._

He started to put back on his clothing, then reconsidered. _A shower first. I don't need Shego wrinkling up her nose at me again._ So Drakken used the office-apartment's small shower and emerged with damp hair, feeling refreshed. He slipped into new clothes along with his usual coat, boots, and gloves, but decided not to pull his hair back into its standard ponytail. Instead he left it swinging free so it could dry.

The cafeteria was only a short distance away, and soon Drakken was snacking on some cheerios and milk, a steaming cup of coffee already waking him up. He perked up as one of the henchmen came into the cafeteria. Though dressed in standard uniform, the henchman was carrying a newspaper and getting a cup of coffee, evidentially on break.

The henchman turned away from the coffee machine and observed the cafeteria. Drakken sat upright, carefully not saying anything. The henchman looked at the many empty seats at Drakken's table, then carefully chose a different table on the other side of the cafeteria. Drakken slumped in disappointment.

Soon another henchman came in and got his own cup of coffee. Again Drakken sat upright. This time he whistled, making sure the henchman heard him. "Good morning," said Drakken. The henchmen nodded in response, then quickly crossed to the other side of the room and sat with his coworker. The two began conversing in quiet tones. Once again, Drakken resumed his position of slumped disappointment.

Yet a third henchman entered the room, intent on the coffee machine. This time, Drakken went so far as to say, "Plenty of chairs at this table."

The henchmen coughed uncomfortably and said, "Sure sir. I've just got… some things… with the guys over there." He retreated to the other side of the room and joined the other others.

Drakken sat and toyed with his cereal until he heard the expected grunts and choked incoherent exclamations from the table on the other side of the room. He picked up his tray and carried it to the trash. As he passed the henchman table, he said, "This is all your fault, you know! If you'd just sat with me, I might have mentioned the experimental language center suppressant drug I put in the coffee, and we could have tested the antidote. But oh no, you had to go sit in your little henchmen clique. Well now you can just go and fail to talk each other until it wears off and you can report to me on how it works!"

He stalked off in righteous indignation, not reflecting that with their language centers suppressed, the henchmen probably hadn't understood a word he just said.

* * *

Shego sat in her office at the top of some stairs on one side of the lab area. She had chosen this spot for its good view of the lab floor, figuring that if one of Drakken's experiments started rampaging, she'd be able to see it quickly. Just at the moment, however, her eyes were occupied with a motorcycle magazine.

"What do you want?" said Shego, not taking her eyes off the magazine.

There was a sound from the doorway of a throat being cleared. "Ah, they said I should come here to be interviewed, ma'am. I'm John Carter, the new hire."

Shego looked away from her magazine in annoyance. Carter looked to be about Shego's age or slightly older, which was to say in his early twenties. The lack of confidence in his posture and tremor in his voice made him seem younger. He was slightly built, which combined with his brown hair, brown eyes, and attitude, made Shego think of a mouse. She doubted that he had been hired as 'muscle'.

"Yeah, we have someone for that. Verostick. I don't know why you were told to come up here," said Shego.

"They said that Mr. Verostick had been fired by Dr. Drakken, ma'am," supplied Carter.

"What! Wait, fired as in out of a job, or fired as in…" Shego made her right hand erupt into green flame and waved it back and forth.

Carter watched the flame as if hypnotized. He managed to stutter out, "They- the fellow at the door didn't say."

"Oh for- Fine, let me see your resume." Shego held out her hand and snapped her fingers, indicating that Carter should hurry it up.

He hesitantly took out a sheet of paper and placed it in her hand, some of his hesitation perhaps coming from the fact that the hand had been wreathed in flame only moments before.

Shego took the resume and scanned it quickly. "Science geek, yadda-yadda. Here to assist in Dr. D's lab work, I'm guessing. So tell me, Carter, what makes you want to work for Dr. Drakken?"

Carter's face took on an expression of enthusiasm. "A chance to work for one of the greatest scientific minds of our generation? How could I pass it up? The thought that Dr. Drakken would actually pick me to-"

"Eaagh," interrupted Shego. "No more. Spare me, here. I can already tell what sort of bootlicking got you the job, so I won't even bother asking about that."

Carter looked resentful at this statement. At this faint sign of rebellion, Shego narrowed her eyes and glared at him until he looked at the floor in fright.

_Not so stupid_, thought Shego. "Here's a few ground rules, my eager young newbie. I am Shego. I do anything important for Dr. Drakken that needs doing. You are here to do anything unimportant that needs doing. You will do whatever I say, whenever I say it, or I will break you in half like a toothpick. I'm not going to say the same for obeying Dr. Drakken. If you choose to defy him, that's your own call, and I'm sure I'll get many hours of entertainment out of whatever he does to you in response."

Shego smiled at Carter. Then she pulled out a nail file and began sharpening the claws on her glove as she continued. Carter wisely waited patiently for her to start talking again.

"You'll notice that I argue with Drakken a lot, and I even call him names sometimes. I can do this for three reasons. One, he's scared of me. Two, he can't do without me. Three, it's my job to tell him when he's being stupid. It is not your job to tell him when he's being stupid. I suggest that you do not try to do my job for me, but I'm sure it'll be fun to watch if you do, given that reasons one and two don't apply to you."

Carter gulped, but protested, "Dr. Drakken is a genius! He's not stupid."

Shego sighed. "He's a genius… some of the time. He's going to rule the world one day… he says. I've said all I can say; you be the judge from here."

She began ticking off points on her fingers. "Since you're a science-type, the uniform isn't mandatory, but you can wear it if you feel like or if Drakken is looking for an experimental subject and you want to blend in. Work begins at 8:00 every day, or whenever Drakken shows up at the lab and wants you to be there, doing something for him. If you need vacation time, post it on the henchman's intranet schedule at least a week in advance. You can grab a room in the lair if you want it, subject to seniority. If you want to live outside the lair, we're subject to relocation at zero notice. Let's see, am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah, betraying us to any legal authorities will result in you being fired."

"Fired or _fired_?" asked Carter.

Shego made both her hands erupt into flames and held them inches away from each side of Carter's head, close enough so the heat made him sweat. "What do you think?" she said with an evil smile.

Her hands extinguished, Shego went to the door and made motions to usher out Carter. "Okay, that's it. I suggest you wander around the lab until Drakken pops out. You can introduce yourself to him then. He's easy to spot. Just look for the guy with the scar underneath his eye." She paused to consider, then added, "And blue skin."

"Ummm," said Carter as he walked out the doorway. "Isn't there anything else you can tell me?"

"Hmm. Yeah, don't drink the office coffee unless you made it yourself. A lot of guys never seem to pick that one up," said Shego. She punctuated this statement by giving Carter a little shove to send him on his way.

As Carter stumbled down the stairs, Shego watched in amusement. She was interrupted by a fly buzzing in her ear, and she waved it away in annoyance. _Spooking the newbies is fun_, thought Shego to herself.

For a while, she tried to go back to reading her motorcycle magazine, but Shego quickly realized that talking to Carter had gotten her blood flowing and she needed to work it off. Since there was no work to be done- Or rather no work to be done that she wasn't palming off on the henchmen, Shego decided to indulge herself in a workout.

The exercise room wasn't all that much. It was just a large open room that had been cleared out for exercise and fighting practice. Its only significant features were a closet where some basic exercise equipment was stored, pads that could be laid down on the floor for safety during practice, and the combat robot in the corner.

The combat robot was there for Shego's use, after she had insisted that Drakken build it for her. There was no _rule_ as such, preventing any of the henchmen or indeed Drakken himself from using it for practice. The clamps at the end of its arms had been carefully padded to minimize damage if it struck someone with them, and its midsection had been similarly padded so a would-be warrior could strike it without damaging themselves or the robot. Still, ever since what had happened to henchman whatzisname when the robot's off-switch and safety protocols had accidentally stopped working, Shego had been the sole person to make use of the robot. Shego, of course, was not worried about getting hurt but only about getting too excited and destroying the robot by accident. If she did that, she would have to nag Drakken until he made another one, and that would be a pain.

Shego started stretching, making sure her body was limber. Then she activated the robot and began sparring with it. The robot only had a few basic attack routines, but Shego tried to keep things varied up on her end. First she'd only attack with her right fist. Then only with her left fist. Then only kicks. Then she forced herself to keep one foot on the ground at all times, reducing her options for dodging. Shego wasn't using her green plasma or even hitting with all her strength, so the robot took all her blows with ease. It landed precisely one hit on her, when she was trying a particularly fancy move.

_Kind of embarrassing, but it's not like anyone saw and it didn't hurt that much_, thought Shego. _Still, this isn't satisfying._

Shego halted the robot and stood there for a while, controlling her breathing. She knew what she wanted to do. Somewhere inside she knew that it probably wasn't a particularly healthy thing to do, but she found she could rationalize it without much effort. _Personalized targets. People do it all the time. It'll help keep me focused, make it easier to prepare for the real thing. This isn't weird at all_, thought Shego to herself in assurance.

Having assured herself it wasn't weird, Shego proceeded to lock the doors and do a quick sweep of the walls to make sure that Drakken hadn't installed security cameras without telling her. This of course, had nothing whatsoever to do with the not weird thing she was about to do.

Shego went to the supply closet and opened the door. Inside, she located a trunk marked 'Shego: Keep Out!'. It was locked with a small padlock, which Shego opened with casual skill using a lock pick. Shego rarely bothered with keys, since it was so easy to lose them. In no time at all, Shego had removed one of the trunk's contents and carefully fitted it over the robot's head.

It was a mask of Kim Possible's face. Shego had built it using her movie magic kit, and it was a fairly good likeness. Shego studied her handiwork and reminded herself again not to swing at the robot's head, since it might damage the mask. Then she activated the robot.

"Hey Kimmie, you've put on a little weight," said Shego to the robot as it lumbered towards her. She dodged the robot's initial swing and added, "So sorry pumpkin, not today."

Shego continued to speak as she sparred with the robot. "So let me tell you about today. I did the entrance interview for this feeb named Jon Carter. Okay, but I'm getting ahead of myself. First I came in this morning, and the big blue ox had been up all night. Can you believe it?"

* * *

Drakken studied the new recruit, John Carter. "So do you know anything about doomsday devices?" he asked.

Carter gulped. "It wasn't an area they covered at school, sir. Dr. Drakken. Sir. But I'm sure I could learn whatever you need me to learn.

_I could use him as an experimental subject for that wool coat growing project,_ thought Drakken. He thrust his head forward and squinted his left eye at Carter, trying to judge how thick the man's natural hair was. A mild sweat broke out on Carter's brow when he saw how Drakken was looking at him.

_No, no, no_, thought Drakken, correcting himself. _You decided to put that on hold for a few months, remember Drew? I'm doing the idea from breakfast, continuing work on Project Firebreak. I could use someone to do the grunt work on that one._

"Oh course, son" said Drakken. He threw back his head and gave a merry-yet-maniacal laugh. "I'll teach you everything you need to know. And what you need to know now is that there's a machine in that cabinet that need to be moved to the top of my workbench."

Carter opened the indicated cabinet and, using a mechanical lift, levered the machine inside to the workbench. Drakken gathered his tools in the meantime. After finishing, Carter carefully asked, "What is this thing, Dr. Drakken?"

"It's the core of a machine that will be just what I need to conquer the world, Mr. Carter," said Drakken. He threw back his head and gave a full-throated villainous laugh.

* * *

Elsewhere.

In a dark room, a figured cloaked in shadows watched Drakken's laughter displayed on a small video screen. The figure stroked a chihuahua sitting in his lap and considered what to do next. Finally he spoke, seemingly to himself.

"No, Mr. Lipsky. I rather think that machine will be what _I_ need to conquer world. You are going to assist me, like it or not, and you and your sidekick will _not_ get in my way."

A metal hand reached out and tapped two files lying on the table in front of the figure. One was labeled 'Lipsky, Andrew'. The other was simply labeled, 'Shego'. The metal fingers of the hand tapped the table as the figure thought, then clenched into a fist.

"Order the travel engines started, Alpha. It's almost time."

A figured dressed in black, who had been nearly invisible in the shadows, stepped out and bowed. "It will be done."

* * *

Author's Notes:

I hope I haven't lost a lot of readers who glanced at the altered show opening and then decided not to read any further. Let me know if anybody's reading this, please. (And if you do, let me know your favorite bits. I like to know what's entertaining the audience.)

The inside of a villain's head is a very scary place, isn't it? Cree-py. Not much action this time, but I think it's well set-up to break loose next chapter. I just thought I'd show a bit of 'daily life' for Drakken and Shego first. Hope it entertained.

Drakken's method of gaining funding was cheerfully stolen from Elliot S! Maggin's depiction of Lex Luthor. I try to steal only from the best. But it does make sense, doesn't it? Personally, I don't view Drakken as less of a genius because he steals (or even buys) so much technology. Being an expert in everything ain't easy. The fact that he manages as much as he does is impressive.

Thanks to Jezrianna2.0, PoisonousAngel, and Blackfire 18 for their comments. Jez, I don't think that the opener is a rules violation. It's not just an author's note or a placeholder; it tells the story of Shego and Drakken stealing the shows opener and what they do with it. So I'm going to chance leaving it as is for now. Thanks for trying to help, though.


	3. Outsourcing

"Shee-go!"

Sprawled out on a couch, Shego ignored Drakken's shout and continued reading her book.

"Shego!" Drakken wasn't quite in sight yet, but the yelling was definitely getting closer.

Shego weighed her obligations as Drakken's assistant, how lazy she felt at that precise moment, and the faint possibility that Drakken wanted her to do something that would actually be interesting. Reluctantly, she called out, "In here, Doc."

Drakken stomped into the room. "Ah, there you are Shego. Why don't you come when I call? What if it were an emergency?"

"If it were an emergency, your voice would have been pitched higher. You'd have been all like, 'Shego, help me!'," said Shego, making her voice high and squeaky as she said the last part.

Drakken bobbed his head back and forth, wishing he could refute what Shego had said. He finally settled on, "Nevertheless, Shego, I'm the evil genius and you're the sidekick. You're supposed to come when I call, not the other way around."

"But here I am, and here you are," muttered Shego. However, she softened the snap by getting to her feet and standing somewhat to attention. _He does have a point, I guess_, she thought. "What do you need, Dr. Drakken? Rare component stolen from a top secret lab? Need me to run interference against Kim Possible while you put your latest plan into place? Kidnap a head of state for you? I'm ready for action!"

"Well that's more like it!" said Drakken. "What I need is for you make sure an important package gets into my hands."

"Yeah?" said Shego, interested in spite of herself.

Drakken nodded. "Yes. You can pick it up down at the post office."

Shego sat back onto the couch, picked up her book, and began searching for where she had stopped reading.

"Oooh, don't be like that," said Drakken. "Project Firebreak is very nearly complete. These are critical components, and when the machine is complete then at last I will have the means in hand to rule the world! I can't afford any screw-ups."

Shego made a show of considering what Drakken had just said, deliberately stroking her chin to indicate deep thought. "No screw-ups… so then you're not going to work on the project anymore?"

"What do you-" began Drakken, before Shego's jibe properly sank home. "Shego! You certainly are breaking out the sass today."

"Yes. Yes, I am," agreed Shego. Tired of the banter, she continued, "All right Doc, I'll go pick your parts up. You have some kind of postal notification for me?"

"Right here," said Drakken, patting his coat pocket. He frowned and patted his other coat pocket. Then he pushed up his coat and tried his pants pocket.

Shego watched her employer in amusement. "Lose something?"

"No! I just must have left it back in the lab, that's all." Drakken turned and walked out, presumably to retrieve the errant postal document that would allow Shego to claim his precious parts. Shego followed him.

"So what is Project Firebreak supposed to do?" asked Shego as they walked.

"Well I was going to tell you all about it," said Drakken. He raised his head, pushing his nose into the air in a gesture of superiority. "But since you're in such a snit today, you can just wait to find out until everyone else does."

Shego scowled. I _hate it when he keeps me in the dark on his plans_, she thought. _It means that when the stupid part shows up, and it always does, I'm going to be the one taking the hit_. She knew she had no one but herself to blame, though. Much as Shego enjoyed tweaking Drakken, there was an art to it. Push too hard and Drakken's feelings would get bruised enough that he got uncooperative. Uncooperative Drakken meant more work for Shego.

They walked out into the lab bay to the table cluttered with Drakken's current pile of work. The new henchman, Carter, had a clipboard in one hand and was studying a humming machine, apparently taking notes on its performance. Drakken searched around the table and finally found what he was looking for near where Carter was working.

"Here Shego. Run and fetch this back for me as fast as you can. I'm all a-twitter to get to work," said Drakken, handing the postal notice to Shego.

Shego studied the notice. "It doesn't say how big this package is going to be."

Drakken gave a full-throated evil laugh, letting the sound fill the area. "Big enough, Shego. Big enough to conquer the world. I will-"

Drakken was cut off as Shego grabbed him by the collar and dragged him forward until her face was inches away from his. "Will it fit on my motorcycle, yes or no?"

"Yes, yes it will," squeaked Drakken. Shego immediately released him.

Drakken readjusted his collar. "I don't want you to think I'm going to be idle while you're waiting in line at the post office, Shego. You know I like to keep a lot of projects going at once. Keeps the mind supple," said Drakken. He tapped his head by way of demonstration.

Shego cocked her head to one side, waiting to see where her boss was going with his statement.

"I have invented a hallucinogenic compound that can be applied to common objects as a nearly-invisible coating. You have only to touch the object is to be afflicted with visions of the worst terrors imaginable. It will be the ultimate security device. Once I've finished coating all that I wish to protect, I need no longer fear my own inventions being turned against me! I plan to start with my most expensive lab tools," announced Drakken proudly.

Shego put her hands out and attempted to caution Drakken. "One little problem, Doc. It seems like you might need to touch your own-"

Drakken interrupted. "Shego, I know what you're going to say, and I assure you I've already considered the problem."

"Oh you have," replied Shego.

"Of course. Kim Possible, my arch-nemesis, always wears gloves on her missions. Be assured Shego, the compound will even work through gloves." Drakken held out his hands and tugged on one of his own gloves to emphasize the point.

_So much stupid. Brain overloaded_, thought Shego. "Dr. Drakken, I-" Shego started to say.

"Mr. Carter here will be assisting me in the application," said Drakken, interrupting again. He reached out with an arm and pulled Carter to his side. "I think it will be quite refreshing to work with an employee who takes orders. Who isn't always questioning my plans. Don't you think so, Shego? Don't you think it will be refreshing for me?"

Shego looked past Drakken at Carter. His eyes pleaded with her. _Do your job, tell the boss his plan is stupid_, they seemed to say. _Please tell him so I can get out of this._

It made her decision all the easier. Shego pointed at Drakken and grinned. "Great idea, boss! You get right on that. I only wish I could help you, but you know I'm busy going to the post office, doing my little part for your master plan. Can't wait to hear about how it all worked out when I get back."

With that, Shego turned and left the room. Behind her Drakken called out, "Have a good drive."

* * *

At first glance, Shego didn't see any open spots at the post office parking lot, which was far too small for the size of the complex it supported. _Great, I'm going to have to circle the block to find a spot, then walk in. Or… wait a minute, I'm evil. Problem solved_, she thought to herself. 

Shego idled her bike into the last remaining handicapped parking spot, just ahead of an enormous station wagon with handicapped plates driven by a little old woman. The villainess gave the old woman a maliciously cheery wave before turning to go into the post office.

Then her cell phone rang.

Shego looked at the number, and her face twisted up into an expression of disgust. It was Malcom. She flipped her phone open and demanded, "What do you want?"

"Ah, Ms. Shego. I have a matter that needs your attention. Since you're unofficially Dr. Drakken's second in command, I thought perhaps I could bring it to you."

"Unofficially!" said Shego shrilly.

"Speaking technically only, of course," said Malcom, managing not to sound at all apologetic. "I did attempt to contact Drew, but he was a bit preoccupied. Something about being stalked by a cheerleader, mole rats eating his brain, and being at high school in his underwear. All quite exciting, I'm sure."

Shego pulled the phone away from her face and stifled a laugh. Then she put the phone back into position. "Whatever. Why are you bothering me?" asked Shego.

"You recall that legal action with regards to the Joel Kord identity? Well, it has escalated since we last spoke. I'm afraid Mr. Kord has been named as a defendant in a class-action lawsuit. I will no longer be able to handle this alone, and it will be necessary to hire additional legal aid," said Malcom in carefully even tones.

"Whatever. Hire more lawyers then. This is what we pay you for," said Shego.

"I work on a commission basis, Ms. Shego. But very well, I will consider myself authorized to bill additional legal counsel. There may be problems when they expect to meet their client, however," said Malcom.

"So just… ummm, figure something…" said Shego, hesitantly. _I hate it when I have to try to come up with ideas_, she thought.

"Perhaps inform them that Mr. Kord is on a trip and unavailable? Or I could hire a stand-in, though that might be a bit risky for the long-term," suggested Malcom.

"Fine, both ideas sound good. Don't hire anybody to play Joel Kord unless you have to. Now buh-bye," said Shego. She hung up the call.

Shego crossed the parking lot, still in a foul mood from talking to the lawyer. She pushed open one of the glass doors to the post office and stepped inside. The first sight to greet her, just across from the entrance, was a crowd of 'Wanted' posters pinned to the wall.

Naturally, Shego couldn't resist stopping to check for herself and Drakken. Neither of their pictures adorned the wall, though. While certainly wanted for crimes all over the United States, California included, Drakken had never attacked Las Angeles, and the posters seemed mostly concerned with local criminals. Shego did, however, spot a rendering of Professor Dementor wearing his usual cowl mask.

_Oh, I this is going to be fun. I have to tell Drakken about this. I'll just mention it casually. 'Hey Dr. D, you know I saw Professor Dementor's picture on the post office wall. Guess he's becoming pretty famous. You? No, your picture wasn't up there.' It'll drive him crazy_, thought Shego.

The idea made her grin evilly to herself as she rounded the corner, but the sight awaiting her there wiped all traces of humor off her lips. What lay before Shego were lines. They were long, long lines of people, all waiting in patient desperation to reach the counter and get their mail-related concerns addressed. With great effort, Shego wrestled down an urge to walk back the way she had come. Instead she joined a line and reluctantly became one of the teeming masses.

It was humiliating, of course, and a part of her wanted to just cut loose with a few plasma bolts, clear out the room, and then go to the back herself to find Drakken's package. She couldn't, though. After making such a point about what a simple mission this was, the only thing more humiliating than continuing to wait in line was the idea of coming back to Drakken empty-handed, admitting that his components had somehow gotten lost or destroyed. So Shego strangled her destructive impulses for the sake of her pride.

There wasn't much concern in her mind about being spotted and identified. For the occasion, Shego had dispensed with her usual jumpsuit to wear a black pair of jeans and a green shirt. Then she had bound her hair into a thick ponytail and put on a baseball cap. For a final touch, Shego had even made the effort to damp down the Go Team Glow inside her and leach most of the green shading out of her skin, something she wasn't even sure that Drakken knew she could do.

Not that all the effort was for Blue Boy. After this little milk run, Shego planned to go enjoy the city a little, and she wasn't in the mood for playing a game of catch-me-if-you-can with the local cops.

As Shego waited, an odd thing began to happen. Her mood began to lighten, and she started to feel almost happy. _It's not so bad, doing something nice and normal for once_, she thought. A small laugh escaped her lips at the thought, and she swung her arms out in exasperation, accidentally hitting the man in front of her.

He turned towards her, smiling. "Yes, can I help you with something?"

Shego giggled. "No silly! I was just being clumsy and not looking where I was putting my arms."

The man, who liked to be in his thirties and slightly overweight, just nodded and said, "That's all right. Nice day like today, who could mind anything coming from a pretty girl like you?"

"Aw, that's so sweet. You know, I want to tell you that I-" Shego paused in mid-speech, carefully considering something. He mouth hung open as she tried to work it out.

"Yes?" said the man, prompting her.

Shego became aware of the quiet hum of conversation all around her, as everyone else in the room talked to each other in a quiet and relaxed manner. This solidified the suspicion growing in her mind. "I'm pretty sure that I've been drugged somehow, since I normally wouldn't be acting like this!" said Shego brightly.

Overcoming the relaxed feeling that had enveloped her through an effort of will, Shego carefully sniffed the air. There was a faint strange chemical odor there that she couldn't quite place. Following up on this discovery, Shego turned and looked carefully towards the back of the room. After a moment, she identified a man wearing a coat that looked much too thick and heavy considering the temperature. There was a suspicious-looking nozzle poking out of one sleeve, and the man appeared to be breathing through a small filter mask he held clutched to his face. Even as Shego spotted the man, his eyes locked with hers and he seemed to realize he'd been made. He took the mask away from his mouth and started blowing a whistle.

About ten men, each wearing a purple jumpsuit with a pinkish-white stripe running down the center, ran into the post office. Five of them ran for the postal counter and left it, heading for the back. Five of them removed truncheon-like objects from their belts and moved towards Shego. The truncheons began glowing on their business end as the fighters moved into position around Shego.

_I wonder if we can talk this out peacefully_, thought Shego. Once what she had begun to think sank in, she pounded herself on the side of the head. _No, no, no_. The delay as Shego tried to move herself into fighting mode allowed the five fighters to surround her, ruthlessly shoving the rest of the crowd aside with the merest touch of their glowing truncheons. The man Shego had just been talking to was laid out on the floor a few feet away, still twitching after having been stunned by a truncheon-blow.

The five struck at Shego in unison. Normally she would have had no trouble dodging them, but the happy-gas was still slowing her down. One of the truncheons got through, tagging Shego a glancing blow across the side. The physical impact was nothing, but the glowing energy sent a blast of electric pain through her stomach. Shego struck back by instinct, igniting her hands in green flame and grabbing the offending truncheon by the middle to melt it in half. She then whirled around, surrounding herself for an instant in a ring of glowing green fire to drive back her attackers.

_Need to get some distance_, thought Shego. She leapt into the air, landing on top of a nearby stamp vending machine. Unfortunately, once up there her drug-addled reflexes betrayed her again. She teetered, unable to find her balance, and fell to the ground. Shego tried to roll with the impact and ended up bumping a trash can, making it fall over.

The purple-suited troops didn't give Shego any respite, charging after her. Pieces of trash paper covering her body, Shego scrambled to her feet and picked up the trash can. She began using it as a shield to fend off her attackers, blocking the blows they made with their energy truncheons. With her back to a wall and a shield in hand, Shego was able to prevent herself from taking another hit. Pinned up against the wall, though, she couldn't go on the offensive. There was no room for her usual acrobatics, and anyway she didn't trust her own sense of balance at the moment. Matters stalemated for a minute or so, the troops seemingly content to keep her contained.

_I've got to get out of the building into the fresh air, clear my head of this gas_, thought Shego. She took a chance by shifting the trash can to a one-handed grip and firing a sweeping blast of plasma, trying to push back her attackers. Two were hit and sent flying back into the post office. Though the concussive force had knocked them back, their uniforms proved fire-resistant enough so that they weren't burned. One of the remaining troops took advantage of her weakened grip to slap down the trash can and hit her in the left shoulder with a truncheon. Shego screamed as that arm went numb and dropped to her knees, releasing the trash can.

Desperate for a distraction, Shego used her still-functioning hand to blast at the front legs of the stamp vending machine. It collapsed forward, knocking down the attacker who had just scored a hit on her. That left only two guards, one of them without a truncheon since Shego had melted it earlier. _Not enough, even drugged and with a bum shoulder_, thought Shego.

Jumping back to her feet, Shego grabbed her unarmed attacker and used him to block the remaining truncheon-wielder's attack as she moved past. She was successful, feeling the man stiffen in her hand as he took a shot to the chest; so she tossed him aside in order to more quickly run to the door.

Shego didn't even bother trying to open the glass door. Instead she melted it with her green fire and leapt through the still steaming frame, stumbling out into the parking lot. She took a deep, shuddering breath. _Oh yeah, in with the good air. I just need a minute, and then those henchmen-looking freaks are going to be sorry they messed with me. All… ten of them, _she thought, suddenly worried.

Ten uniformed men had assaulted the post office, but only five of them had fought Shego. What had the other five of them been up to? Just as Shego was starting to recover her breath, she got her answer. Another whistle blew and all ten men, plus the coat-wearing presumed gas-dispenser, ran out of the post office. They were headed for the street, and Shego could see that one of them was carrying a package about the size of a small microwave in his arms, canceled stamps visible on its surface. _They weren't here for me, they were here to steal something from the post office_, Shego realized.

There was of course, the faint possibility that the box did not contain the vital components that Drakken had been waiting on, but it was faint enough that Shego wouldn't have bet a wooden nickel on it. Despite not feeling 100, she ran towards the men, determined not to let what was probably her mission objective get away.

They saw her coming and formed up to protect the one carrying the package, but it was futile. With a kick, Shego swept two out of the way. The punch that followed knocked another to the ground, and her path was clear. Her fist blazing with green energy, Shego launched an attack straight at the man, only to have him raise the package as a shield in an attempt to protect himself.

Shego's fist could probably have gone right through the box, but doing that might have damaged the components she was trying to retrieve. She was forced to pull her punch, throwing herself off-balance at exactly the same time one of the other troops hit her from behind. The attack knocked her to her knees, and the package holder jumped away. Shego tried to grab him, but succeeded only in snagging a piece of paper hanging halfway out of his uniform pocket.

By the time Shego got to her feet, the troops had all piled into an unmarked white van across the street. As it pulled away she shot a last, desperate bolt of plasma, trying to destroy the van's wheels. Precision aiming of her plasma at long distances was tough even at the best of times, though, and she only succeeded in carving a long and ugly gash down the side of the van's paneling. Then it was gone, accelerating down the street.

Shego rushed back to her motorcycle and jumped on board, intending to give chase. She suddenly realized, though, that it felt a little funny underneath her weight. Looking down, Shego realized this was because someone had slashed both of her tires.

"Oh, they're going to pay," said Shego, seething. "After I'm through with them, the sight of them is going to scare little children." She abruptly realized she was talking to herself and shut up.

A crumpling noise from her clenched fist reminded Shego of the paper she had snatched. It was a copy of the information from her own postal notice, removing the last shred of doubt that she had just failed in her mission to retrieve Drakken's components.

For a moment Shego floundered helplessly, not sure what to next. _I could… No, I should… Maybe I could chase them… on foot? No, that's not going to work. There's only one thing I can do. Sigh. I'm going to have to call Dr. Drakken_, thought Shego.

She flipped open her phone and hit Drakken's number. It rang four times and Shego was just beginning to wonder if Drakken was still in the grip of his hallucinogenic compound when the line finally picked up. "Yes Shego, what is it?" said Drakken's voice. He sounded tired and as if his throat was a bit raw.

"Bad news, Dr. Drakken. A team of uniformed goons just assaulted the post office. Hit me with some sort of gas and some of them kept me busy while the others grabbed your package. They just now piled into a van and drove away. My ride is shot, so I can't chase them," said Shego.

"What! They have the parts for Project Firebreak? Hold on a moment, I need to pinch myself to make sure this isn't another fear-hallucination," said Drakken. There was a pause and then a yelp of pain from the other end of the line.

"Not a hallucination," said Shego.

"No," replied Drakken. "Shego, they can't be allowed to get away with those parts! Let me see, what to do, what to do. We could look for them using one of the hover cars."

"Look for a plain white van from the air? Needle, haystack. Try again," said Shego.

"Then I'll create an army of mutant dogs and unleash them on the streets of Las Angeles to chase down those who have wronged us. I've never really done anything big in LA, you know," said Drakken.

"Oh, I know," said Shego. "But it's still a stupid plan. Try again."

There was a long silence from the other end as Drakken considered. Finally he said, "Well then why don't you call the police on them? They did just rob the post office, after all. I can track the police band frequencies and when we hear they've been located, you and I can swoop in and get back my components."

"That's…." Shego concentrated, trying to find the stupid. Surprisingly, she couldn't. "That's not a bad idea, actually. I did manage to tag the side of their van, so they'll be easy to ID. All right, I'll call this in and then wait at the Smarty-Mart down the street. You can pick me up from there."

"I'll do that," said Drakken. He then hung up without any further ranting.

As Shego dialed 911, she reflected that Drakken hadn't said a single word in reproach for her failure to stop the thieves. For all his faults, he at least had genuine faith in her abilities. It was one of the reasons she put up with all his faults.

Pretending to be a frightened postal customer, Shego told the police operator about the robbery and how the white van was marked. With any luck, soon hundreds of police would be on the look-out for just such a van. Then she retreated down the street to await pick-up.

* * *

Drakken hung up his phone. His hair was still a bit wild and mussed from his earlier thrashing about in the grips of terrible hallucinations, and one of his gloves had gone missing. _I don't feel up to a fight right now. Still, Shego will do the heavy lifting and with any luck I can just stay in the hover car_, he thought. 

_I suppose I'm fortunate that I experienced the flaw in my new security plan before I coated too many of my things with that stuff, but that still has to go on my list of ten most unpleasant experiences. I'll just have Malcom sell the formula and be done with it_, thought Drakken idly. He realized that he was dwelling on his 'bad trip' of a morning to distract himself from thinking about the impending problems with Project Firebreak.

Hands clutched together behind his back, Drakken walked across the lab to where a glowing machine sat. It was the size of a washer and dryer stacked atop each other, and most of its top half was taken up by a dome of black glass that was illuminated by glowing components within. Drakken tapped the glass gently. "Not today, baby," he said. With that, he flipped a switch that turned the machine's power off. This had the effect of shutting off the interior lights and making the black glass into a reflective surface.

In the reflection, Drakken saw a ninja standing behind him, about to prick his neck with some sort of needle.

"Yaaahhh!" screamed Drakken as he spun around, swinging wildly. The ninja jumped back a few feet, easily avoiding Drakken's clumsy swings.

Drakken's immediate label of the man as a 'ninja' had a reasonable basis in fact. The ninja was wearing the same recognizable soft black suit with mask covering the lower face that Drakken saw on those infrequent occasions when he hired ninjas of his own. However, it soon became clear that the ninja had a name, or at least a code name. Raising his left wrist up to his mask, the ninja activated a small radio he was wearing there and spoke into it. "This is Agent Alpha. Move out," he said in English, with a slight Japanese accent.

Agent Alpha returned his attention towards Drakken. "So unfortunate you saw me, Doctor. This could all have been over for you by now." As he spoke, Alpha palmed a throwing needle coated with poison from one of his suit's many hidden pockets.

At this point, Dr. Drakken decided to exercise the better part of valor and ran for it. Alpha threw the needle at Drakken, but the scientist had little exposed flesh to target, and all of it was moving very rapidly. The needle bounced off of Drakken's coat as he vanished into the dim confines of the lab.

After a quick situational analysis, Alpha elected to remain with his primary target over pursuing Drakken. In the distance, the sounds of explosions and fighting could be heard. While he waited for his men to arrive, Alpha unfolded a drawing and studied it carefully.

Very soon a squad of men in purple jumpsuits with pinkish-white stripes down the center entered the room. They formed up in front of Alpha for orders. "Open the bay door and signal our men outside to bring in the forklift," he told them. As they moved to obey, a clanking sound began to approach from the back of the lab.

"My, what a lot of nerve. Do you actually think you can come into my lab and steal from me? From _me_?" shouted Drakken. He was encased in a large robotic exoskeleton, with the barrel of an enormous laser cannon sticking out from the exoskeleton's right arm. He fired the laser cannon at Agent Alpha.

Alpha dodged easily out of the way, but the shot came very close to hitting the machine he had been guarding. "Fool! You nearly damaged the machine," he said to Drakken.

"Oh boo-hoo. It's my equipment, and I can destroy it if I want to. In fact, maybe I will, just to make sure you don't get to steal it," said Drakken. He aimed his suit's weapon at the machine but didn't fire.

Cursing in Japanese, Alpha leapt straight at the exoskeleton. As he moved, he drew a short-bladed weapon and executed a slicing motion with it, cutting a cable running along the exoskeleton's surface. There was a soft thrum as the suit's laser cannon immediately powered down.

"What are you, some kind of ninja engineer? How did you know how to do that?" griped Drakken. "Well it doesn't matter; I can still hurt you the old-fashioned way!" Saying that, he used one of the exoskeleton's enormous arms to take a swipe at Alpha, who nimbly jumped out of the way.

Alpha's wrist communicator began to ring. As Drakken continued swinging at him, Alpha tried to answer it but couldn't get enough respite to do so. He said to Drakken, "Do you mind? My contract says that I must answer all calls immediately, but you are making it quite impossible."

Drakken folded his robotic exoskeleton's arms up across its chest plate. "Go ahead," he said.

After Alpha clicked the response button on his communicator, a voice issued forth. "Agent Alpha, what is your status? Report."

"Acquisition of the device is underway. I am-" Alpha was interrupted as Drakken started swinging at him again. Alpha leaped into the air to allow the exoskeleton's massive arm to pass underneath him. He pushed off from the arm with his foot, giving him enough momentum to stab his sword directly into the exoskeleton's power supply. Precisely as he struck his target, however, the exoskeleton's other arm hit him with a body-wide blow that sent him flying into a bank of machinery twenty yards away

"I am currently engaged in combat with Dr. Drakken," Alpha finished as he painfully regained his feet.

"What! You were told to remove him from the equation before beginning acquisition operations. I am very disappointed, Alpha. We will have to have a… talk, once you're back at headquarters," said the voice on the other end of the line.

While Alpha was being berated by his employer, Drakken hit the quick-release levers to escape from his now-powerless exoskeleton. Drakken's thoughts were counterbalanced with an equal mixture of anger and fear. While his various lairs had often been invaded by Kim Possible, Drakken had always considered having a hero try to thwart his schemes as part of the normal business of the villain game. It was annoying and frustrating, of course, but not worth his anger. One might just as well get mad at the clouds for releasing a rainstorm. This was different, though. A bunch of sneaky thieves had invaded his home when he hadn't even started putting his plan into motion, and that was intolerable.

On the other side of the equation, Drakken had no idea what the invaders intended for him. The worst he could expect from Kim Possible was a sore head and a quick trip to prison, but who knew what Agent Alpha would do to him? That needle… if it had pricked Drakken's neck, would the poison on it have put Drakken to sleep or would it have killed him? Worst of all, Shego wasn't around to stand between Drakken and the fighting.

The deciding factor, in the end, was Drakken's pride. So instead of running away once free of the exoskeleton, he pulled a compact laser pistol from his shoulder holster and began firing at Alpha. Unfortunately for Drakken, he wasn't a very good shot and Alpha proved remarkably adept at dodging laser-fire.

Alpha decided that his employer's last comment did not call for a response. Instead he occupied himself with Drakken's wild shooting. Alpha estimated that he could dodge Drakken indefinitely with little chance of being hit, but that left two problems. First, 'little chance' was not the same as no chance. Second, having random laser shots being fired in a room full of unknown mad science devices seemed like a dangerous course of action. Accordingly, Alpha acted to end the shooting spree. Tossing out a grappling hook, he snared a set of shelves directly behind Drakken and gave a mighty tug. The shelves fell on their sides, pinning Drakken beneath.

No longer able to see his opponent, Drakken fired at the only thing clearly in his field of vision, the ceiling. The lights and electrical conduits above began to spark and short, and a severed power cable fell to the ground. The power cable hissed and moved with the discharge of live current, sparks setting fire to cluttered papers that had fallen loose from the knocked-over shelves.

Meanwhile, Alpha's troops had successfully picked up the target machine with their forklift and were busy hauling it outside. Alpha observed this. Then he observed that going after Drakken would involve leaping through flames and smoke over a still-live electrical line to confront an opponent who was still armed. _The first rule is, stay to fight only when the advantage is yours_, he reflected to himself. Then he followed the device that was the core of Project Firebreak out the bay doors and into the truck that waited to carry it away.

Drakken struggled underneath the shelf pinning him to the ground. The smoke was making it harder to breath, and he was forced to try to extricate himself one-handed, since he refused to release his grip on the laser pistol. Finally he was able to wriggle out from underneath and get to his feet. There was no sign of his attackers, though the open bay doors hinted at which way they had gone.

Despite the fire, the sprinkler system hadn't yet been triggered. _They must have sabotaged it_, was Drakken's first thought. That didn't seem quite right, though. _No, no, why would they do that? It must… the electrical conduit I shot up. I must have cut power to the smoke sensors._ Testing this theory, Drakken limped his way over to the nearest wall and pulled the fire alarm switch. The hooting of the alarm hurt his ears, but the sprinklers began going, quickly putting out the growing flames.

Irritated, Drakken took a moment to open the alarm panel and cross a few circuits to cut off the siren while leaving the sprinklers running. Then he looked in despair at the near-ruin of his laboratory.

_I am going to get back what's mine. First I need to get Shego, though. I don't care to face those fellows again without her_, he thought. A plan in mind, he stumbled towards the bay where he kept his hover vehicles.

* * *

Shego filed her nails as she waited. There didn't seem to be much else to do, and it calmed her. Still, it was a mark of how on alert she was that she noticed Drakken's hover car when it was no more than a small speck in the sky. By the time it set down in the parking lot of the Smarty-Mart, she had forced herself into a relaxed posture. 

Shego had intended to start off the conversation with Drakken by mentioning Professor Dementor's wanted poster in the post office, but catching clear sight of Drakken's condition left her with only one thing to say. "What happened to you, Dr. D?"

Drakken's coat was covered soot and dirt stains, and he was sporting a developing bruise all along one side of his face. His gun holster was unbuttoned, and one of his hands hovered near it. More than that, though, was how completely relieved he looked to see Shego. It made her want to ask who was chasing him.

So she did. "What, is somebody chasing you?"

Drakken leaned in against the car's steering wheel. "The lair was attacked, Shego. It was a bunch of henchman types led by a ninja type. They stole Project Firebreak! I fought them, but I barely escaped with my life."

Shego considered this information. "Henchmen types, huh? Were they wearing purple jumpsuits with a kind of pink stripe down the center? Red sunglasses?"

"Yes, yes, that's it exactly, Shego! How did you know?" said Drakken.

"Duh. The same type of goons were the ones who busted into the post office. No ninjas with my guys, though. Wow, they had pretty good timing, didn't they?" said Shego. She casually began to file her nails again.

"Shego! How can you take this so calmly? The sanctity of my laboratory has been violated. My invention has been stolen. This is horrible," said Drakken. He waved his arms around as he ranted.

"So you mean, just like we always break into other peoples' labs and steal their inventions? Or is this different in some way I'm not seeing?" asked Shego curiously.

"It is different! It's different because… because this time it's happened to me," said Drakken.

"Oooh, of course. How could I not see that?" said Shego sarcastically. She shook her head. "Face it Doc, you've just been used as…. What do you always call it? Outsourcing, right. You've just been used as outsourcing."

Drakken glowered at Shego, a vein in his forehead pulsing.

Shego easily leapt into the cockpit of the hover car and patted Drakken on the shoulder. "Hey now, we'll get your thingie back, don't worry about it. You know, I was mad at first too. All I'm saying is that you have to admire the professionalism of these guys. I wish we could be this slick when we steal a gadget."

Gripping his chin in one hand, Drakken looked off into the distance and considered. "I have to admit, they did show considerable ability. I'll have to tell that to whoever is behind this… just before I destroy everything he's ever loved or valued."

"Now that's the spirit, Dr. Drakken," said Shego. "Let's get going."

Drakken looked at Shego's clothing doubtfully. "Don't you want to change into your uniform first?" he said.

Shego smacked herself in the head. "Oh, right. Hold on a second."

She jumped out of the car and behind a nearby bush. There was a green glow for a second, and then Shego emerged in her usual black and green skintight suit.

She stopped upon seeing Drakken's astonished expression. "What?" Shego said.

"How did you do that? You were only there for one second," said Drakken.

"Trade secret. I've had special training," replied Shego.

"Oh, of course. From when you were a superhero," said Drakken.

Moving very quickly, Shego ran up to Drakken and grabbed his lips. "We don't talk about that, remember?" she said in a dangerously calm voice.

Drakken nodded his head, unable to speak while Shego was holding his lips.

Shego calmly released her employer and took the hover car's passenger seat. Drakken sat down in the pilot's chair and manipulated the controls to lift the car up into the air.

It was at this point that a transmission sounded through the car's police band scanner. A white van, believed to have been used in the post office robbery, had just been spotted and was being pursued.

"We've got them," said Drakken.

* * *

Author's Notes:

And here I thought this was going to be a short chapter.

You know what I love about writing Drakken and Shego? Writing them is easy. Heck, I don't even have to write them. Their personalities are so well-defined, I only have to put them in a situation and ask, "What would they say?" and the answer is immediately apparent.

Fight choreography, on the other hand, is tough. The two fights in this chapter probably took as much writing time as the rest of the chapter put together. Still, we're finally getting some of that action I've been promising. I hope I struck the proper balance of "dangerous but still able to make mistakes" for both sides in the conflicts.

Still, this chapter wasn't quite as much fun to write, partially because it was a bridge to some other scenes I wanted to get to. Also partially because I had to have Drakken and Shego be a little more serious and lose some of the funny. Still, there's some good bits coming up that I look forward to writing.

At this point, the reason that Shego is the sidekick and Drakken is the boss should be completely clear to the discerning reader, but I'll lay it all out for you in chapter 5 if you haven't worked it out.

Thanks to Jezrianna2.0, gargoylesama, PoisonousAngel, Eva91, 12345 (), Corencio, and Blackfire18 for comments. No, the identity of the 'mystery villain' isn't supposed to be that much of a mystery, but I'm glad if you enjoyed figuring it out.

That's all for now.


	4. Usage of Sidekicks

"At least we didn't come away completely empty-handed," said Drakken. He raised one hand, allowing his new gold chain to dangle in the air. On the end of the chain, the bejeweled letters 'DD' spun about, reflecting the sunlight.

Shego took her eyes off the road long enough to glance at Drakken's prize. "Oh please, you don't think that thing's real, do you?"

"It's not about how much it's worth, Shego. It's about having hip, with-it look and keeping up with the times. That's the important thing," said Drakken primly.

There was a crack from the truck's steering wheel as Shego tightened her grip on it. "No, the important thing is that we're driving a broken-down heap of junk, trying to make a getaway, and certain smug idiot is now going to be ruining my reputation by telling everyone how he outsmarted me. That makes me cranky."

"Well then you should appreciate me trying to find a silver lining! Besides, we're not beaten yet. This was just a temporary set-back. We _will_ get my technology back," said Drakken.

Shego grunted in response, seemingly upset at something other than Drakken.

Drakken dropped his new gold chain into his lap and sighed. "It seemed like things were going so well for us in catching the thieves…."

* * *

**An Hour Earlier**

The sirens and lights of the police cars made the chase easy to find from the air. Drakken manipulated the controls, sending the hover car swooping down closer to the white van leading the chase.

"We've got them now," said Drakken. His finger stabbed down towards the control for the Gravotomic ray, but Shego reached out and grabbed his wrist before he could press the button.

"Ah-ah-ah," said Shego, shaking her head in the negative.

"What? I told you Shego, I've been practicing on the controls. I'll have no trouble lifting the van to the top of one of these buildings, and then there'll be no escape for them," said Drakken, puzzled.

"Think, 'genius'. These guys just have a few components. The ones we really want are the goons plus ninja who robbed your lab. If we grab them now, chances are the others will get away. If we keep following them, they're probably going to go meet up with the people who have your machine," replied Shego.

"Yeeea, you have a point," said Drakken, obviously a bit frustrated.

"Don't I always?" said Shego, satisfied. She leaned back into her seat, putting her hands behind her head.

"But that's not to say there's nothing for us to do here." Drakken's finger once again descended and this time Shego wasn't fast enough to stop him from activating the Gravotomic ray.

A yellowish ray emitted from the hover car, targeted not at the white van but at the lead car in the line of police cars following it. The ray pulled the car into the air, then spun it onto its side in response to a careful nudge to the controls from Drakken. He then shut off the ray, allowing the police car to drop back onto the road and block the street.

The rest of the police chase could perhaps have driven around and continued on, but the drivers all seemed to reach the conclusion that yellow beams from the sky were more noteworthy and dangerous than continued pursuit of the white van. They all skidded to a halt, and Drakken gave them a merry wave as the hover car followed the white van in hanging a fast turn around the next street corner.

"You helped them get away!" said Shego, surprised. After a few seconds consideration, a look of comprehension appeared on her face. "You helped them get away… because if the police caught up with the van, they'd never make it to meet up with the ones we really want."

"Precisely," said Drakken smugly.

Shego reached out and patted her boss on the shoulder. "Hey, that was actually pretty clever. Being robbed really seems to focus your thinking. We should have someone break into your lab more often."

"Errr," said Drakken, not sure how to take Shego's backhanded compliment.

The white van executed several twists and turns, evidently trying to evade any remaining police pursuit. There was no sign that they spotted the hover car monitoring them from the air or realized the cause of their miraculous escape. Finally, it pulled into a parking garage.

"Out of the way, I'm taking over," said Shego. She casually grabbed Drakken and pulled him out of the pilot's seat.

"What? Why?" said Drakken.

"Because I know how these guys think. If there's going to be a meeting, it's going to be on the roof, and this time we're going to be the ones with surprise on our side," answered Shego.

She manipulated the controls to bring the hover car up to a point a few meters below the edge of the roof and right beside the concrete wall of the garage. In a quiet voice she said to Drakken, "Stay here. I'm going to scout it out."

Leaping at the wall, Shego was able to use her claws and a little plasma to get a firm grip dug into the concrete surface, balancing with one foot on a protruding ledge. She carefully climbed the wall until she was just below the top of the safety wall surrounding the roof. Then she pulled a small mirror from one of the hidden pockets in her uniform and used it to peek over the edge.

Standing there was the black-suited ninja that Drakken had described, his face still mostly covered by the mask. He appeared to be in charge of ten of the purple-suited minions that Shego was already familiar with from her experience at the post office. As she watched, the white van emerged from the ramp out onto the top of the parking garage, and another eleven minions piled out.

Shego dropped back down to the hover car, and she and Drakken made their plans.

* * *

Agent Alpha ordered the men he thought of as 'Team B' into formation. While they scrambled into neat rows, he carried the box they had successfully stolen from the post office and stored it with the machine seized from Drakken's laboratory. Then he returned and stood in front of their leader. "Report," he said curtly.

The leader's report was brief, to the point, and notably short on details. It was the sort of report made by a man who had a well-developed survival sense, since in the WorldWide Evil Empire (WWEE), you generally wanted to report success, which would not be punished, without including any additional details that might not be so favorably received.

Alpha didn't particularly care. This was just something to have the men do while they all waited. It would be bad discipline to reveal that fact, though, so he said, "Insufficient. Our lord will demand more."

As Alpha finished saying this, he realized he could see a quickly brightening yellow glow reflected in the red sunglasses of the man to whom he was speaking. Decades of survival instinct kicked in, and Alpha leapt to the side without wasting time in turning to see what was happening behind him. It was fortunate for him that he did so, because immediately after he jumped out of the way, Drakken's Gravotomic beam finished powering up and smashed into the formation of Team B, tossing them across the roof like tenpins struck by a bowling ball.

Landing safely just beyond the far edge of the beam, Alpha turned to see what had attacked his men and was met by a bolt of green plasma to the face and body. As the concussive impact knocked him through the air and slammed him into the windshield of a parked car, the man recently known as Agent Alpha could only reflect, _Sometimes you try your best, and it's just not enough._

While she waited for the ninja to get up, Shego occupied herself plowing through those goons who hadn't yet been hit by Drakken's Gravotomic weapon. Though she didn't know it, these consisted of 'Team A', those men who had assisted Agent Alpha in attacking the lab. Some might have said she was making a mistake in not taking her opportunity to press her attack on what was more likely the more dangerous foe, but Shego had never been one to play it safe. She wanted to see what the man in black could do.

Suppressing a groan, Alpha ripped off his smoldering mask and rolled off the car. He landed on his feet and took a defensive posture. That accomplished, he took in his surroundings. Shego was standing over a pile of the men under his command. It had taken only seconds for Alpha to recover his senses, and that was apparently all the time she had needed to deal with them. Off to the side, Drakken could be heard asking pointed questions of one of the WWEE troops regarding the whereabouts of his technology. Shego and Alpha locked eyes and studied each other carefully.

His mask now gone, Shego could see that her opponent was a muscular Japanese man who looked somewhere around forty years old. His hairline was receding slightly, and there was a scar running vertically down the left side of his face, extending all the way from under his nose, over his lips, and down to the bottom of his chin. Here and there in his black clothing, Shego's trained eyes picked out what she could guess were hidden weapons.

"So I hear you whipped on Dr. Drakken pretty hard. What's your name?" asked Shego.

"In my current employment, this one is known as Agent Alpha," responded Alpha. He shifted his feet slightly, signifying a change in his stance, but did not otherwise move.

Shego realized that he wasn't going to attack. He wanted her to come to him. _Well, that's fine. Let's see if he's earned those fancy pajamas_, she thought. Aloud Shego said, "Sorry to break to this to you, Alphie, but for this I'm going to have to break you." With that she charged, summoning plasma around her clawed gloves as she lunged forward with them.

Alpha hopped back to the side, avoiding Shego's initial attack. As he did, he drew from hidden sheaths a short bladed weapon in each hand and thrust them forward, trying to catch Shego in between them. She was ready for this and rather than dodging back stepped forward inside his guard, swiping at Alpha's face with one hand while blindly fending off his knife strikes with a wave of plasma created by her other hand. Alpha retreated in the only manner left to him by jumping over the hood of the car he had recently crashed into and putting its mass in between them.

"You have been trained at Yamanuchi," said Alpha. There was a bit or surprise in his voice, but it didn't stop him from slowly circling the car, keeping it between Shego and himself.

"I spent my senior year there. Seemed like a little ninja training from Yamanuchi was a better bet than taking physics classes at my old high school," admitted Shego. "Of course, you're a graduate yourself. A little before my time, right old man?"

"Correct," said the man calling himself Agent Alpha. He continued keeping the car between himself and Shego.

Shego decided she had enough of playing ring-around-the-rosie and built up a powerful plasma charge, which she directed underneath the car. It exploded upwards, rocketing the car into the air and over the edge of the parking garage towards the street below. Alpha surprised her, however. Instead of retreating, he ran underneath the car even as it was thrown into the air, crouching low to push through the back blast from Shego's plasma burst. Both of his arms were extended, a blade in each hand, and he slashed at Shego's legs. She dodged in a circular motion, trying to get behind him, and for a moment they were like a pair of dogs chasing each others' tails.

Somehow they ended up back-to-back. Alpha's arms were extended, his knives held so that the blades extended downward from his clenched fists. Shego was pressed up against his back, her glowing green fists held close to her body, ready to intercept any attack. Neither was moving, each afraid that to do so would create an opening the other could exploit. He was, Shego decided, not as fast or as agile as Kim Possible. Somehow Kimmie had become the standard against which she measured other fighters. Still, there was a sophistication to Alpha's technique and a certain polish to his fighting style. This was a man who had worked very hard for a long time at learning how to stay alive.

_I can beat him. He's got some tricks, but sooner or later everybody runs out of tricks. Maybe on the dojo floor, playing for points, he could beat me, but he doesn't have the skill to outfight me and counter my powers at the same time. I just need to take care of those knives of his to be safe, and then he's mine_, thought Shego.

As she tensed to strike, however, Alpha spoke to her. "Amateur. You may have learned, as you say, 'a little training', but you do not fight as a ninja of Yamanuchi should. You parade around in a colorful costume designed to draw the eye. You do not press your advantage when an enemy lies weakened before you. You fight without understanding the field of battle. Worst of all, you talk without purpose, distracting yourself," said Alpha.

"Well aren't you Mr. Smarty-Pants," said Shego, annoyed. "I do things my own way because I'm good enough to do things my own way. Who appointed you the judge of all things ninja anyway, loser?"

"Cannot a proud alumni be regretful that so disgraceful a student was allowed out into the world to shame our Sensei?" mocked Alpha, still making no move to attack.

Filled with rage, Shego suddenly ignited plasma around her hands and struck out to either side. As she had expected, he was able to pull his fists out of harms way, but he was not fast enough to stop her from destroying the blades of his knives, rendering them useless. Rather than dodge to either side, Alpha pulled up one leg and pushed off as hard as he could, making Shego stumble forward with an unceremonious shove to her butt that launched him into the air.

Even as he landed, Alpha reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out a handful of throwing needles. He whirled about, tossing them at Shego, but she easily dodged. Alpha spoke to his opponent again. "Ah, on a hard fighting surface such as this, such a padded rest for my foot was most pleasant."

Shego stopped her attack, unable to resist a comeback. "You know, for someone who complains about 'talk without' purpose, you have an awful lot to say," she said.

Alpha cocked his head to one side as a faint rumbling filled the air, like distant thunder. "My talk was not without purpose," he told Shego. "Its purpose was to delay, to distract."

Her eyes narrowed, Shego reconsidered the fight thus far. "You've been fighting defensively, holding back. You never wanted to win," she said accusingly.

"How do you say it in English? I played you to delay you," said Alpha.

Behind him was a shimmering in the air as a massive drop ship uncloaked over the streets of Las Angeles, hovering by means of some sort of antigravity. Its ramp dropped down to reveal row upon row of armed men, along with heavy weapons emplacements. The guns slowly swung about towards Shego, even as Alpha made a mad dash for the safety of the drop ship. For an instant Shego considered following him onto a ship full of armed troops, but then her better sense reasserted itself. Shego began to do some running of her own.

Fortunately for him, Drakken was on the beeline straight between herself and the hover car, so Shego took the fraction of a second necessary to grab him and toss him over her shoulder. She didn't break stride at all in leaping into the cockpit of the hover car, which Drakken had left hovering just at the edge of the rooftop. Not even taking the time to settle comfortably into the pilot seat, Shego used her foot to activate the controls that would steer the car downwards as fast as possible, going into a near-vertical dive that left both Shego and Drakken feeling like their stomachs had escaped out their noses.

Above them, the edge of the parking garage exploded as the drop ship fired its heavy weaponry in an increasing downward arc, trying to catch the hover car before too much of the building blocked its way to shoot through. Wriggling desperately into the pilot's chair, Shego jerked the stick from side to side, dodging huge chunks of concrete in freefall dropping past their barely controlled descent. She pulled the hover car to a halt barely above the surface of the street.

Looking at the devastation above them, Drakken could only say, "I think we need a bigger hover car."

"Yeah. I think so," said Shego, her voice not rising above a whisper, but still managing to impart a subtle sarcasm.

Drakken straightened in his seat as if realizing something. "Shego! I never retrieved my invention. We have to-"

"Go back and get ourselves killed?" interrupted Shego. "Mmmm, considering it, considering it…. no."

"Always the pessimist, Shego. Perhaps we aren't armed well enough to take my invention back by force, but we can at least get a better look who these fellows are and what they're doing. If I reverse the polarity on the hover car's Gravotomic beam, I can make it repulse their weapons' fire. Then it'll be safe for us to take a little peek up there," said Drakken.

"Whatever," said Shego, who realized the light at the end of the tunnel was a train, but at the moment couldn't get worked up enough to do anything about it. Far more of her attention was focused on how Alpha how stupid Alpha's deception had made her feel and what she would do once she caught up with him.

Opening a few panels, Drakken began fiddling with the wiring. It didn't take him long before the Gravotomic gun on the front of the hover car began to emit a strong repulsive force that pushed the hover car away from the parking garage and nearly crashed it into the street before Shego wrestled the controls into submission.

"Next time, a little warning before you turn that on," said Shego.

"Never mind that. Take this thing back up. I want to see where they go when they leave here," commanded Drakken.

Shego gave her boss a sharp look, but ultimately obeyed orders. She took the hover car up fast, not bothering with stealth. Because of her speed, they cleared the smoldering jagged edge of the rooftop just in time to see the white van being driven into the drop ship. That view was all they got before the gun emplacements opened fire, pelting a barrage of bullets and explosives towards the hover car.

Drakken instinctively flinched back, but his improvised Gravotomic field worked as advertised, knocking aside all attacks. _Amazing. I didn't really think that would work_, Drakken thought to himself.

The drop ship started to move away from the roof top and up into the air, its ramp still opened. Emboldened, Drakken commanded Shego to follow it. On the deck of the ship, the troops manning the gun emplacements realized that they were firing to no effect and stopped, shouting something to whoever was further inside the ship.

_Might as well press our luck_, thought Shego, and she brought the hover car in close enough that shouting back and forth with the men on the deck would be possible. The drop ship could have closed its ramp, cloaked itself in invisibility once again, or attempted to fly away faster than the hover car could follow, but it did none of these things.

Instead a man strolled out onto the deck of the drop ship, taking a position where he could have a clear view of Drakken and Shego in their hover car. Those around him stepped carefully away, giving him plenty of space. The thing most immediately noticeable about the man was the eye patch covering his left eye. He had swept back brown hair with reddish highlights and a carefully trimmed beard. The man was wearing the same basic jumpsuit as the troops around him but his was more finely tailored, with rows of buttons down either side of the chest. His right hand appeared to be made of metal.

The man said in a clear voice, "The two of you are very persistent."

"You'll find I'm not so easy to defeat," shouted Drakken defiantly.

The man seemed to consider this, his remaining eye narrowing in concentration. "That's odd. All my studies seem to indicate you are indeed easy to defeat," he said.

"He's got you there, Doc," said Shego to Drakken.

"Just who do you think you are?" asked Drakken of the man, ignoring Shego's jibe.

"I'm Gemini, supreme leader of the Worldwide Evil Empire, or 'WWEE' as we like to call it. I and my organization exist to foment lawlessness and chaos around the world. Now that I've done the polite thing and introduced myself, allow me to suggest that you turn your air car around and fly home. Let me assure you that I'll be putting your technology to very good- or rather, very evil use," said Gemini.

"You don't honestly expect me to let you get away with this," said Drakken.

"I expect you to fail to stop me from getting away with this. It's a fine distinction, but you seem to need a little help playing your part. Here, let me give you a hand," said Gemini.

As he spoke this last sentence, Gemini extended his metal hand forward and fired miniature missiles from its finger tips. His aim seemed to be off, however, as they flew through off to the side, not hitting the hover car or its protective Gravotomic field.

"You missed!" exclaimed Drakken triumphantly.

Gemini smiled. "Oh did I?" he said.

Alarmed, Shego turned to try to track the missiles. She realized they were curving about, coming at the hover car from behind and thus avoiding its protective field, which projected only from the gun on its front. She tried to maneuver the car to avoid the missiles, but it was already too late and they struck the read of the car, creating a small explosion.

The hover car shuddered and began to fall. They had been steadily rising during their conversation with Gemini, so there was now quite a ways to fall. Shego pulled desperately on the control stick and there was just enough power left to turn their descent into a steep drive, but they were still going down far too fast for safety's sake. In the split-second before their descent took him out of sight, Drakken could see Gemini giving them a wave goodbye.

"Doc, the engines!" screamed Shego.

"What?" asked Drakken.

"Get me more power to the engines," said Shego.

Drakken desperately pulled at the hover car's access panel, exposing the inner workings. He began pulling at the wires within, trying to reroute whatever power he could towards the gravity device underneath the car that kept it in the air. There was a shudder and the angle of their descent flattened out even more, but they were picking up a lot of vertical speed.

Drakken jumped into his seat and fastened his seat belt firmly. He was just in time as the bottom of the car touched down on their first roof top. They were going so fast that the car slid across with an awful grinding noise before shooting over the edge and into the air again. Shego gave the stick a twist, dropping them onto another, slightly lower roof top a short distance away. She was turning the city itself into an improvised landing pad to allow them to drop their enormous vertical speed. Another roof top, then another, and Shego shouted, "This is it, we're hitting the street!"

The hover car impacted the road, still sliding and began spinning as it slid, making it hard to tell where they were going. There was no brake left to press, and all Drakken and Shego could do was hang on and hope they didn't hit anything too hard. For an instant they seemed okay, and then they ran out of street, jumping a curb and smashing through the glass barred window of a pawn shop. The energy absorbed by this last impact finally brought the car to a halt.

Shego opened her eyes and carefully tested her limbs. Nothing seemed broken. She glanced over to Drakken to see him looking back at her, seemingly uninjured. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Finally Drakken shrugged and said, "He was a polite fellow, wasn't he?"

Shego gave him a pained expression and carefully climbed out of the wrecked car. "Come on, I'll go steal something that'll move, and we can get out of here," she said

Drakken started to follow her, then paused at something he saw under a smashed glass case. "Oh look at this, Shego," he said, lifting a gold chain with the letters 'DD' hanging from the end of it.

* * *

Shego tapped the wheel of the truck as they waited at the stoplight. "Why couldn't you have at least done something useful while I was fighting Agent Alpha ninja-boy?" she asked Drakken.

"I was interrogating the thieves," said Drakken.

"Why didn't you make them give you back your machine, then?" said Shego.

"I got the parts back, but I didn't have a forklift handy to move my machine into the hover car. I was waiting for you to beat the ninja so that you could help me move it," said Shego.

"Wait, you got the parts back?" said Shego.

"Certainly! I made them hand the box over, and I stowed it in… the… hover car." Drakken put a finger to his lips as a slightly embarrassed expression crept over his face. "Oh dear, I really should have grabbed that back in the pawn shop, shouldn't I?"

The look on Shego's face was answer enough.

"Look, we were in a crash! I was distracted. It could have happened to anyone," said Drakken.

Shego pulled the truck into a convenient alleyway. "Wait here," she told Drakken. Then she left.

Thirty minutes later she returned to find Drakken singing along with the truck's radio. She waited until he noticed her standing there.

"Shego! About time. I was getting bored here, and the local radio stations are lousy," said Drakken.

"Uh-huh. About your parts, Doc," said Shego

"You found them in the hover car?" said Drakken.

"I found them across the street from the pawn shop," said Shego. She held up an extremely battered box and gave it a shake. There was a soft rattle, as of objects smashed into very small pieces. "I'm thinking you're not going to be able to use these."

"Let's go home," said Drakken.

* * *

'Home' could be a tricky concept for a mad scientist and would-be world conqueror. Certainly Drakken had many places to live, scattered all over the world. 'Lairs' was the preferred term for these places, since their primary purpose was to support Drakken's world-conquering ambitions, with a bedroom thrown in as a concession for his need to sleep. The occasional picture of his mother not-withstanding, Drakken couldn't consider these places to be 'home' any more than a normal person would consider the office where they worked to be 'home'.

There was the Lipsky house, where Drew Lipsky had grown up and where his mother still lived, but Drakken couldn't really consider that to be home. He just wasn't comfortable there anymore.

Was Drakken, a man with property all over the world, in fact homeless? This was the sort of thing Drakken worried about on long dark afternoons, when he realized he wasn't going to get any more work done that day, there was nothing he wanted to read, and dinner was still hours away.

He sometimes thought about asking Shego what she thought, and then quickly thought better of it. Shego maintained her own living quarters separate from Drakken's lairs whenever geography made it practical. Where impractical, she would stake out a separate living area for herself that Drakken was forbidden to enter on pain of- well, pain. Worries about not having a home did not seem like a complaint that would garner a sympathetic ear from Shego. Drakken usually made himself feel better by sketching imaginative death ray designs.

There was one lair, however, that came as close to a home as Drakken had. Nestled on his own privately-owned Caribbean island was a gothic-style castle, posted with plenty of keep-out signs to warn away kids from neighboring islands. It was even reputed to be haunted, though Drakken couldn't say that he'd ever seen any sign of a ghost. Drakken liked the location, liked the basement lab that looked like something out of the Frankenstein movies he'd loved as a child, and liked the master bedroom suite that had been installed by the previous owner, a reclusive millionaire. Drakken found himself returning there again and again, usually after particularly humiliating defeats that made him want to spend some time in a place that made him feel like an evil genius again.

The business with Gemini counted as just such a defeat, so Drakken wasn't particularly talkative as Shego flew himself and then henchmen there in a cargo jet. He just sat in his seat, alternating between anger and depression. The henchmen clustered as far away as they could get, concentrating on not disturbing the boss.

Shego, however, felt under no such limitation. She tossed a magazine into Drakken's lap.

"Shouldn't you be flying the plane?" asked Drakken.

"It's called autopilot, genius. Take a look at this magazine. I found it in with the unopened mail at the hanger. It has a profile of Gemini in it," said Shego.

Drakken picked up the magazine and found the appropriate page. He took a couple of minutes to read it, then read it again. "Hmmm. Impressive. Organization with worldwide reach, a secret shadow war against Global Justice…. Oh, here we have the explanation. He's the evil twin of the director of Global Justice. Nepotism, blatant nepotism. With that kind of advantage, I could be a player too, instead of-"

Drakken cut himself off, but it was too late. Shego was smiling evilly. "Instead of what, Dr. Drakken?" she said, knowing the question would torment him.

"I just like to keep my operation small, that's all. Allows me to keep the personal touch. Why, I bet Gemini has henchmen he's never even met. I don't envy him at all," said Drakken.

"Riiiight," said Shego.

"I don't," said Drakken. "Still… I wonder what he's up to right now?"

* * *

"So you were caught by the police, which enabled Drakken to follow you to the rendezvous, where you handed over to him your mission objective. Have I got all that straight?" said Gemini to Team B.

The men of Team B looked at each other in terror, knowing what was coming. Finally one stepped forward to speak. "Please sir, I know we've made mistakes, but give us another chance."

Gemini stroked his pet Chihuahua while he considered this. "Isn't that interesting Pepe? This man seems to feel that I should give him an opportunity to fail me twice. How odd. Well, let it never be said that I don't give my men what they ask for."

He pressed a button on his chair. "Beta, I have a group here that wants a chance. Please bring in eleven parachutes," said Gemini into the speaker.

He then turned his attention to the men before him. "Fortunately for you, this is a worldwide evil empire, which means I can always use a man on the ground, wherever in the world I am. So we're going to place you right here, on the ground below my flying fortress, wherever we happen to be at the moment. You'll have to find a way to survive as best you can, and I'll contact you by radio when I have more orders. Now, does that seem fair?" As Gemini spoke, a minion with a Greek letter 'beta' emblazoned on the chest of his jumpsuit entered, pushing a dolly stacked with parachutes.

"Yes sir, completely fair. You won't regret giving us this chance, sir," said the spokesman for Team B.

"I'm sure I won't," said Gemini. He punched another button and an iris opened in the wall, revealing the cloudy landscape of high altitude outside. "Now get going."

One by one, the group that had attacked the post office put on their parachutes and jumped out. Gemini waited patiently until they were all gone, then closed the iris.

Agent Alpha, who had been standing in a corner quietly not being noticed, remarked, "My lord, am I to take it that none of those parachutes will function?"

Gemini looked offended. "Certainly not! I'm not in the habit of lying to my men. They asked for a chance, and I gave them one. One working parachute, that is. Correct, Beta?"

The person who had wheeled in the parachutes, whom Gemini had referred to as Agent Beta, nodded. "Yes sir, one of the eleven will get its wearer safely to the ground."

"There, you see? Quite a reasonable chance for a failure like that," said Gemini. He pointed his cybernetic hand at Beta, and it was surrounded by the glow that announced it was charging up for an energy blast. "Now let's talk about your failure."

Alpha held up a piece of paper as a shield. "My contract, lord. Attempts to kill me will be regarded as a breach there-of, with full penalties invoked."

Frustrated, Gemini pointed his hand to one side and blasted a random piece of equipment. "I don't know why I should care. You won't even wear the Agent Alpha uniform. There're called uniforms for a reason, you know. Even I wear one."

"With respect lord, you care because I represent the best combination of skills and experience available on the open market. As for my clothing, my contract specifically states that I may dress as I find most appropriate for successful completion of missions," said Agent Alpha.

"Hmmm, yes," said Gemini. He made an adjustment to his cybernetic hand, then fired an energy blast straight at Alpha. Alpha was too surprised and Gemini too skilled for Alpha to be able to dodge before the blast was fired, and it struck him in the chest.

Gemini vaulted over the railing of the platform from which he surveyed the room and ran to Alpha's side. He grabbed Alpha by the collar and lifted the other man into the air with a one-handed grip. "You're still alive, so this is not an attempt to kill you. This is a lesson to convey my displeasure with your performance," said Gemini.

He slammed Alpha back up against the wall. "You were ordered to incapacitate Drakken so that he couldn't interfere in the operation. Because you failed, I had to deal with Drakken personally. That might have forced me to kill him, and I want him alive as a potential resource for the time being. Make me feel like I'm getting what I paid for, and don't fail me again," said Gemini.

He dropped Alpha to the ground and walked away.

The ninja glared at his boss's back in hatred and soothed himself with thoughts of his ever-growing bank account.

* * *

Drakken stood in front of the huge view screen, rubbing his hands together. "What we need here is information about Gemini and the WWEE," he said.

"The wee what?" said Shego.

"Gemini's WWEE," said Drakken, puzzled.

"Yeah, but his wee what? His wee little dog? His wee little guns? And since when have you been speech lessons from Duff Killigan?" said Shego.

"I'm talking about the Worldwide Evil Empire. Acronym, 'WWEE'," said Drakken patiently.

"Oh, right. See it's confusing because wee is a word. It's even a couple of words, because at first I thought you were saying 'weeee' like you were happy," Shego told him.

"Shego! Wait, are you just messing with my head again?" said Drakken.

Shego considered. "Started off serious, moved on to messing with your head pretty quickly," she said.

Drakken carefully exhaled and made an attempt to restart the conversation. "We need more information about Gemini and the Worldwide Evil Empire," he told Shego.

"Okay, how are we going to find out more about them, Dr. Drakken?" said Shego, figuring that she now owed it to Drakken to feed him the proper straight line.

"I'm going to call all my homies and ask about him," said Dr. Drakken.

_Every time I try to be nice, this is what he gives me,_ thought Shego. Aloud she said, "So much to choose from. Do I ask about you having homies, or do I ask about how calling around and asking about him counts as a plan for gathering intelligence? I can't choose."

"I know people in the villain business. Gemini is a villain with an evil organization. Somebody I know is bound to have run into him before," replied Drakken.

Shego shrugged, which was as close as she was going to come to admitting that Drakken's plan sounded much more sensible when he put it that way. "So who's up first?" she asked.

"Cousin Eddie," said Drakken. He dialed a number into the control panel and waited.

There was a ringing sound, and then Motor Ed's voice came on the line, though the screen remained dark. "Hey, I spy with my little eye, my cousin Drew! How's it going dude, seriously?"

"I'm not getting your visual, Ed," said Drakken, flipping switches on the control panel.

"Seriously dude, having the mother of all bad hair days. Turned the camera off. Yours is coming through fine, though. Hey Shego. You're looking finer than ever, seriously. Do you have to glue that suit on in the mornings or what?" said Ed.

"Can we just stick to business?" said Shego, irritated at the one-way peeping.

"Yes, quite right," said Drakken. "Ed, have you ever crossed paths with a man named Gemini? Head of the WWEE- I mean, the Worldwide Evil Empire?"

"Whoa. That dude is major bad news. Haven't run across him since I became all about the ride, but I heard a little back when I was still strapping on the lab coat every day for the government. Did you know I once tricked out some flying cars for Global Justice to help them go after him? Seriously," said Ed.

"I've had a little trouble with the man. Is there anything you can tell me about his methods? Abilities? Where he lives?" said Drakken hopefully.

"Dude, I just heard what I heard through the rumor mill, you know? Uhhh, let's see. Oh, I did hear that this Gemini dude likes to fly his own planes, drive his own cars, that kind of thing. Supposed to be a real hotshot type, doesn't depend on other people to chauffer him around. Seriously, some real style there," said Motor Ed.

Drakken made small talk with his cousin for a while, then hung up.

"Next I think we'll give Professor Dementor a try," said Drakken.

Shego crossed her arms and smiled. "Professor Dementor, huh?"

**FIVE MINUTES LATER**

Shego tossed the last of the henchmen in the grey jumpsuits into the corner. She turned towards Drakken and asked, "So what have we learned?"

Rubbing his bruised jaw, Drakken answered her. "That I should have remembered that Dementor hates me, we're rivals, and he'll take every opportunity to hurt me."

"And?" asked Shego.

"And he's invented a machine that can teleport over phone lines, all right?" said Drakken.

"Just as long as you're learning," said Shego.

She carried off Dementor's failed attack force while Drakken tidied things up a bit. Then they met back up in the view screen room.

"I've thought of someone much better to call this time," said Drakken.

"So you're going to keep going with this. Interesting," said Shego, letting the sarcasm turn her voice into a cutting instrument.

Drakken looked at her, shook his head, and dialed another number. The view screen lit up. The image on the screen was that of Wade Load, preteen genius and Team Possible's tech guru.

"What do you want, Drakken?" said Wade. He raised a soda to his lips and took a drink.

"You're calling Nerdlinger? You _are_ desperate," said Shego.

"Hush," Drakken stage-whispered to Shego.

Drakken forced a smile and spoke to Wade. "Let me ask, Mr. Load. Does the name Gemini mean anything to you?"

Wade tapped a few keys. "Gemini. Head of the WWEE Gemini? Kim ran into him once and fought him alongside the head of Global Justice. Why? What's your interest?"

"He fought my archfoe? That snake. How dare he try to steal something else from me?" raged Drakken.

Shego stepped in and shoved Drakken to the side. "What Dr. Drakken means is that Gemini stole..." she said trailing off. Shego looked around the room desperately and spotted some mail lying on the table. "…stole Dr. Drakken's spot as lead speaker at the next… mad science symposium."

Wade frowned. "But Gemini isn't a mad scientist. I mean, I'm sure he has mad scientists working for him to build things like those robotic flies he used to spy on Global Justice headquarters, or his hover jets, but he didn't seem like a scientist."

"Which…." Shego lost inspiration again.

"Which is exactly why I'm so angry with him," finished Drakken.

Wade looked back and forth, then rubbed his forehead. "I just remembered. You're bad guys, and I don't care. Good luck taking on a guy with his own evil empire," said Wade. With that, he cut the connection.

Drakken and Shego looked at each other for a moment, then exclaimed in unison, "Robot spy flies!"

Shego looked around the room, then spotted an insect on a nearby wall. With lightning-quick speed, she grabbed it between two fingers. "I don't believe it! This thing is a robot," Shego said, then crushed it between her fingers.

"There's only one thing I can do now. Build a better flytrap!" said Drakken.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Whew, another long one. Sorry for the delays, but I had a doozy of a time getting started. Just in case any reader is confused, Gemini is a villain from the TV series, who appeared in one episode, "The Ron Factor". Overall he was one of the more competent and dangerous villains of the series, even if he did have his quirks.

Thanks to Jezrianna2.0, Blackfire 18, Gargoylesama, Eva91, and PoisonousAngel for your comments on the last chapter. Of course, that's 5 reviews compared to the 15 I got on "81 Percent of Her Heart", so maybe people just like the romance stuff better or something. Sigh. Well, I hope people are still reading.

This chapter had a lot of action and somewhat less humor. I tried very hard to keep a balance where Drakken and Shego got defeated in the end, but they still fought hard every step of the way. The bit where Shego and Alpha end up posed back-to-back during a break in the battle is one of my favorite bits from that.

Let me talk about ninjas a little. They show up a fair amount in the series, actually. The thing is, ninjas are always the bad guys, except for Ron's Yamanuchi experience. And even Yamanuchi… the students in there are training in stealth and fighting arts, presumably to go out after graduation and sell their skills. While I'm sure these skills could be put to good use, it seems more likely to me they go out and hire themselves out to people who need things and people stolen and broken. I'm hypothesizing that all ninjas we see come from Yamanuchi, because how many ninja schools can there be in the world, anyway? There's hundreds of fics out there where Ron goes back to Yamanuchi to train, but I can't think of any that make Yamanuchi out to be a bit more sinister than one might expect. I might have to do something with that one day.

Anyway, I thought ninja training for Shego was as good a way as any to explain her skill set. One might imagine it as where she went after leaving Team Go.

Don't feel sorry for Gemini's men. They knew what they were getting into when they went to work for something called the Worldwide Evil Empire! I hope that the scene helped establish some things about Gemini and about Agent Alpha, though. As you can see, while superficially similar, their relationship is very different than that between Shego and Drakken.

I hope you readers want to see what comes next! Let the speculation begin.


	5. Research and Development

Drakken carefully connected one final wire, then closed the device's access panel. It consisted of a stubby black cylinder about one foot tall and one foot in diameter, with a small crystalline ball attached to the top. He considered the device for a moment, then looked back to see that Shego was watching him.

_Hmmm, perhaps I should increase the power a little. This trap is supposed to be the anchor for all the others covering the lair, after all_, thought Drakken. Answering thought with deed, he pried open the access panel again and pulled in from the side a thick cable with a large alligator clamp at one end. Clamping the extra power supply directly into the circuit meant that the access panel couldn't be closed and trap seemed less sleek, but that was the price one paid for extra trapping action. Or at least, so went Drakken's thoughts on the matter.

He checked behind himself again to see that Shego was still watching him, but had backed up about ten feet. Drakken gave her a glare at the lack of confidence, but she just shrugged and looked innocent, as if she couldn't imagine what might have aroused Drakken's ire. Determined to teach his doubting sidekick a lesson, Drakken reached out and turned the device on.

There was silence for a moment, and then a low hum began emanating from the device. A soft electric glow pulsed from the crystalline ball, and a faint tingle of static electricity buzzed in the area immediately around it. Drakken clapped his hands together in delight. "Shego, I think I can safely say that our little bug problem is no longer a concern," he said, looking back at his sidekick.

Shego silently raised a hand and pointed a finger at the device. Drakken turned towards it again, realizing that in the brief moment since he had looked back at Shego the glow had become much brighter. An arc of electricity suddenly jumped from the device and impacted Drakken's wristwatch, shocking his hand. Then more electrical arcs formed between the crystalline ball and various pockets on Drakken's lab coat where tools were concealed. Fortunately for Drakken the lining of his coat was insulated, so he wasn't suffering shocks from these arcs, but the points where they were hitting were growing uncomfortably warm.

The pain in his wrist increased as his wristwatch was pulled towards the crystalline ball by a powerful magnetic field. Drakken tried desperately to keep his wrist from being pulled in, knowing how much worse of a shock he'd be getting if his wristwatch actually made contact. His entire arm had gone numb, but he got a grip on it with his other hand, pulling back against the attractive force. Around him, small metal objects like paperclips and loose screws were flying at the ball, erupting in showers of sparks as they hit. "Shego!" Drakken yelled in desperation.

As he waited for his sidekick to rescue him, part of Drakken's mind couldn't help but consider the potential applications of this phenomenon. It could be a weapon, or perhaps an amplification device for that generator he had heard the Danish military was working on. Certainly, he hadn't expected so a powerful effect from the modifications. Thoughts distracting him from the pain and pressure, Drakken actually went so far as to release his numb arm to reach for a pen and notepad in one pocket so that he could jot down his ideas. This proved a mistake, as his arm was immediately tugged in towards the crystalline ball. Drakken screamed in terror, but the glow shut off just before his wrist impacted.

Drakken looked to the side to see Shego holding the severed, spark-spitting end of the power cable, which she had evidently cut with her plasma. Her hair was starting to frizz out from the electrical charge. Seeing her boss was relatively unhurt, Shego tossed the electrical cable well away from the lab bench Drakken had been working at.

"Thank you?" said Drakken, making it more of question.

Shego carefully smoothed down her hair before speaking. "Dr. Drakken. I'm used to your inventions not working right the first time. You're always telling me how science is about taking chances and trying new things. Fine. But this time I have to point out that you've already built five of these things. Five electronic bug zappers, designed to trap and destroy those spy flies, all of which worked fine. Five traps, all of which are already deployed around the lair. But for this last one, number six, you decide you're going to experiment. And now I must ask, _why_?" she said.

Drakken attempted to pat his numb arm back to life as he thought about how to answer Shego. The truth was that the previous five traps hadn't been exactly identical. He'd been varying the design a bit, trying to get better performance, though not in a way that would have been obvious to Shego's untrained eye. It had all gotten a bit boring, however. Rebuilding what was essentially the same design over and over made him feel like some mere technician. He had a feeling that, 'I was bored,' would not get a favorable response from Shego, though.

"I was attempting to make things more efficient, Shego. It's ridiculous that I should need so many of these traps to stop Gemini's toy flies. I thought if I could increase the power, I could do it all in one. I just didn't count on the increased power being so… powerful," said Drakken, trying not to sound defensive.

"Mmmm, interesting call. Tell you what, I'm just going to go wait in the conference room for you. We can have that 'strategy session' after you get the last trap up and running. You build it any way you want. Just try to remember I'm not going to be here to save you if you screw it up again," said Shego. She gave Drakken one of her typical evil smiles and sauntered out of the room.

Drakken watched her go, scowling. _Always has to act so superior. Who's the genius here? Me, not her. I don't see her building any anti-bug traps. Where would she be, without my brilliant mind to guide her? What do I need her for, anyway? I could do fine on my own_, thought Drakken to himself. His gaze settled on the recently depowered trap. That and the throbbing of his wrist proved a painful reminder of why he needed Shego.

He settled down to rewire the trap, this time making it like the previous five. As he did, Drakken found his thoughts returning to Shego. There was little question, really, that Shego was Drakken's biggest asset as a villain. Drakken didn't participate much in the 'social club' of villainy that Jack Hench and his HenchCo tried to perpetuate as a very specialized market, but he had some idea of what his fellow would-be conquerors and crooks thought of him. To quote a comedian, Drakken got no respect.

They laughed at his many failures, which Drakken thought was unfair. The reason he had failed so many times was that he had _tried_ so many times. Whenever a scheme was foiled, Drakken would always have three more on the drawing board or in progress. Quantity had a quality all its own, didn't it? Drakken tried, on occasion, to buckle down on a single plan and make sure it was perfected before putting it into action. It went against his nature, though. Coming up with ideas and implementing them was the fun part. Tinkering with them to try and achieve perfection was boring.

Drakken realized that in his distracted thinking about his place in the villainous community, his hands had started rewiring the trap as a death ray all on their own. He smacked the lab bench in frustration and began again. Shego. He had been thinking about Shego.

Whatever his peers thought about Drakken, they all respected Shego. She was so dangerous, so clever, and she never- well, rarely ever failed. No one else had a sidekick like Shego. Professor Dementor might be more infamous and, in the opinion of _some_, have better inventions than Drakken, but he had to be content with mere minions. Shego could handle anything and had actual superpowers. She was an advantage that no one else had, and with her at his side, no one dared cross Drakken.

Except Gemini, apparently.

The rewiring finished, Drakken closed the trap's access panel and turned it on. It powered up with the same pleasant hum, but this time there was no power surge, no electrical arcs, and no magnetic instability. As usual, Shego's advice had been sound, if unexciting. _Now I let her pick apart my ideas on how to go after Gemini_, thought Drakken.

* * *

Drip, drip, drip.

A large damp spot covered the ceiling in one corner of the conference room. From it dripped a steady stream of water, falling into a bucket that had been set below it so that the floor didn't soak. Drakken found his fingers tapping the table in rhythm with the dripping.

"I thought you were going to call a plumber," said Shego. Her voice was a bit absentminded, as most of her attention was going to the cards spread out in front of her in a game of Solitaire.

"I called the plumber before we left the lair last time we were here. If we're lucky, they're finally going to be here later today. We're on a private Caribbean island. Fast plumbing service is not one of the perks," said Drakken.

"Uh-huh," said Shego. She picked up a card, studied it for a moment, then carefully laid it down.

"When I rule the world, of course, things will be different," continued Drakken confidently.

This brought Shego's attention away from her cards. She coughed, or at least Drakken hoped it was a cough and not the stifled laugh that it somewhat sounded like. Shego swept the cards to one side, disposing of her game. "You've gotten rid of all the spy bugs, right? So now we can talk without Mr. 'I'm so cool, calling myself one of the zodiac signs' listening in on us?" she said.

"I'm sure of it. Now at last we can plot my revenge against Gemini," said Drakken confidently.

Shego looked at Drakken for a while, an odd expression on her face. Finally she said, "About that, Dr. D. Are you sure you want to go ahead with this revenge stuff?"

Drakken was taken aback. "What! The Worldwide Evil Empire broken into my laboratory, stole my machine, and they assaulted and nearly killed the both of us. Why exactly would I not want to take a terrible revenge, Shego?"

"Yeah revenge is great and all, but it's not exactly going to further your goal of conquering the world, is it? Add to that, those guys are pretty dangerous. Like you said, they nearly killed us. Can't you just build another machine to go ahead with this Project Firebreak of yours?" said Shego.

As far as Drakken could tell, Shego was being as sincere as she ever got, not layering her words with any sarcasm or double-meaning. Of course, Shego was always hard for him to read. For a brief moment his thoughts revolved around building some sort of portable emotion-reading helmet that he could wear, but then he realized that Shego was still waiting for an answer.

"No! I mean… no. I had to… outsource some critical components. You remember, you grabbed them for me on those trips to Singapore, Seoul, and Boston. They canceled those projects afterwards," said Drakken. He tried to tell if Shego realized he had drifted off in mid-conversation, but she was still inscrutable. If only he had that helmet… he knew just where Shego could steal the parts to build it.

"Doc!" Shego said, snapping her fingers under his chin. "Stay with me here. Serious decisions to make and not the time for you to get distracted. What exactly is this Project Firebreak supposed to do, anyway?"

Drakken made an effort to focus his thoughts. "Very simply, it utilizes a coherent highly variable field created inversely from top and strange quarks to selectively inhibit certain macro scale reactions without otherwise interfering with conventional unified force interactions."

Subtle changes in Shego's face, along with the green plasma suddenly surrounding her right hand, informed Drakken that he had somehow upset her. Oh, if only he had that helmet! "Now how about making it understandably simple, 'genius'," she said in an irritated voice.

"Oh, err. It stops internal combustion and electronic devices without doing anything else. It makes machines stop working," said Drakken, hoping this was simple enough. He vaguely suspected that Shego was angry because he had made her feel stupid, which was something that, in his experience, she didn't care for. Last time he had tried to explain the plot of a movie she hadn't gotten, she had blown up half of his laboratory.

Fortunately, Shego seemed distracted by the implications of Project Firebreak. "Say, that would be pretty world conquest-worthy. You could threaten to shut off civilization unless the world bowed to you."

"Yes, I suppose you _could_ use it that way. Now that I think about it, that seems much simpler than my original plan," said Drakken.

"Why, what were you going to- Never mind. Let's not get off-topic. I can see why you want this thing back," said Shego.

"More importantly, I don't want Gemini to have it. What if he uses it to conquer the world instead of me? Someone else, conquering the world with a machine that I created. How could I ever live with the embarrassment? The humiliation? People would laugh, Shego. And not just behind my back anymore. It would all be to the face. To the face!" said Drakken, growing increasingly passionate as the vision of laughing crowds dominated his mind.

"Also, you'd have to live in a world ruled be an evil madman that wasn't you," said Shego.

"Yes, there would be that," replied Drakken.

"And then he'd probably rename Middleton after himself, set up his headquarters there, make everyone wear WWEE uniforms, lock you in a shock collar to control you, and pump your body full of super science steroids so that you could be an amusing bodyguard," said Shego, staring off towards the wall as if lost in a dim memory.

"Yes he might- What! Where did that come from?" said Drakken, distressed both by Shego's words and the odd anxiety they provoked in him.

"Eh? Oh, I don't know," said Shego, shaking her head to clear it. "Anyway, okay, so you've decided that we have to get your device back from Gemini. What's the plan?"

"You are on board for this, right Shego? You're not going to suddenly decide to use your vacation time when I'm ready to go after Gemini, are you?" said Drakken, remembering Shego's earlier caution.

An irate Shego grabbed him by the collar. "I'm not backing out on anything! I want a second chance at that Agent Alpha that Gemini has working as his flunky boy. You just point the way and I'm there. Now I repeat, what kind of plan are we working with here?" she said.

Drakken eased himself out of Shego's grip. "Message received. The principle problem here is locating WWEE headquarters, which is where I surmise Gemini will be keeping my machine. He makes himself ridiculously hard to find. Worried about the Global Justice Network coming after him, I suppose. I have a few ideas on that," said Drakken.

He walked up to the whiteboard and drew a number one. "Option one, I start an evil newspaper and coupon clipper. Gemini will be so astounded by the villainous content that he take out a subscription, thus giving me his address and sealing his doom," said Drakken. He broke out into a villainous laugh while writing the words 'Evil newspaper,' beside the number one.

"Seems like it would take a little too much set-up. Besides, how do you know he won't just subscribe to the online version?" asked Shego.

"Curses! You're right, of course he'd get an online subscription. Good thinking, Shego," said Drakken. He drew a line through option one, then wrote the number 'two' below it. "This second idea will be much better."

"It doesn't involve another form of news media, does it?" asked Shego.

"Of course not," said Drakken. He hesitated, then added, "Well, not directly. Remember those parts you tried to pick up from the post office? Gemini will still need those to complete the machine, and there are only a few places in the world where he can get them. I shall send you out to rob those installations and wreck them beyond repair, taking with you a few of the needed components. Then you return here and we broadcast through the news media, letting Gemini know that we control what he must have. He will come to us!" said Drakken, letting off another laugh, this one somewhat less intense.

Shego chewed this idea over for a while, while Drakken began sketching traps on the white board that he intended to lay for Gemini. Finally she spoke. "Two problems here. First, that sounds like an awful lot of work for me. I mean, I love the destruction, but you do anything too much and it loses its zest. Now if that were all, I'd still be up for it, but this idea ends with us sitting around, waiting to be attacked. Not liking that idea."

Drakken growled in frustration, trying to break the dry erase marker in his hands. "I did have one more idea. We infiltrate Global Justice and use their resources to find WWEE. If anyone can locate Gemini, surely his fraternal twin Dr. Director can," he said.

"But if she could find him, then she already would have gone and arrested him. And infiltrating Global Justice isn't that easy. You got anything else?" said Shego, putting her feet up on the table. She was calm enough, but something about the way she kept twirling her hair with one finger said to Drakken that she was as frustrated as he was.

Drakken spent a desperate moment wracking his brain, but no ideas came forth. Or at least none related to tracking down Gemini. "No other ideas. We're back to plan number two," he told Shego.

"All right. I'll go get the jet fueled up, while you figure out a target list," said Shego. She rose to her feet, not looking very enthusiastic.

_Bah, she's right. I don't want to sit here waiting to be attacked. I want to do the attacking. Instead of letting him follow the parts here, we ought to follow the parts to him_, thought Drakken. _Wait a moment, Drew, that's not a bad idea!_

"Shego, don't bother with the jet! I do have another plan. Instead of letting Gemini track the parts to us, we keep a watch on where the parts are being sent. I can hack the proper computers, and when I do, the shipping patterns will tell us right where Gemini is hiding. Then we take the fight to him," said Drakken.

"I like," said Shego. "I'm still fueling up the jet, though. There's somewhere I need to go."

Drakken scratched his head in puzzlement.

* * *

About half-way up the long mountain path to Yamanuchi, Shego began to wish she had brought some earphones and a CD player. It wasn't that the climb was physically difficult, but it was time consuming. Without anyone to talk to or anything other than the scenery to entertain, Shego was left with only the company of her own thoughts. Forced reflection and contemplation was on Shego's top ten list of things to avoid.

So Shego began to sing. She started relatively quietly, singing various television jingles to herself, but it failed to satisfy. Soon she was booming out tunes from the radio at the top of her lungs. It wasn't very good singing, and the high volume didn't help. Shego was just bursting into a chorus from an 'Oh Boyz' song when a figure wearing dark clothing rose from the side of the path.

"So I you're the one guarding the path to the school. You know, when I had guard duty, I'd never show myself without trying to creep up behind whoever was coming up, no matter who they were. Of course, I had ambition," said Shego, making it clear that this comment was a snub at the stranger.

"It is my honor to guard the entrance to Yamanuchi this afternoon. It is also my honor to preserve my hearing," said the stranger, who had a female voice. She pulled off her mask to reveal a beautiful teenage Japanese girl with a red ribbon in her hair.

"What, you don't like my singing?" said Shego, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"I would never say such a thing. Might I ask who you are?" inquired the girl. She was polite, but Shego could see her fingering a weapon concealed in one sleeve.

"The name's Shego. Internationally wanted criminal. Yamanuchi graduate. I'm here to check over some old yearbooks. Now be a good girl and walk me in," said Shego. She flared a ball of plasma in her right hand and tossed it into the air before allowing her Go Team Glow to fade away again.

"It will be my honor to escort you in. I am Yori," said Yori. She bowed in Shego's direction

Before she had a chance to think about it, Shego found herself returning the bow. Too many ingrained reflexes coming back. To compensate, she sneered at Yori before turning and trotting down the path towards the school. Yori fell easily into step beside her.

After a moment's silence, Yori asked, "Will you be wishing to visit Sensei, Shego-san?"

The thought was oddly tempting. Shego had only been at Yamanuchi for a little over a year of hard training, but Sensei had still been something of a father figure to her, as he was to all the students. However, the reason it was tempting was the same reason she wanted to avoid it. "I'm in a hurry. No time to listen to one of Sensei's extended metaphors," said Shego_. I don't want to see the disappointed look in the old man's eyes. I liked him too much for that_, thought Shego. _Gah, I can't believe I just thought that._

As they entered the school grounds, Shego looked around. "Huh. Place hasn't changed that much. Except I think there used to be a tree over there."

"Yamanuchi has stood unchanged for many hundreds of years, and it has been less than five years since you graduated, Shego-san," said Yori.

"You've got a point, I supp- Hey! How did you know when I graduated? I thought you didn't know who I was," said Shego.

"I was not sure of whom you were immediately, since I had not seen you in person before and you were not in uniform," said Yori.

Shego glanced down at herself. It was true, she had discarded her usual jumpsuit for a lime green top and black pants and gloves. Though various emotions and insecurities flickered within her mind at returning to Yamanuchi, the primary reason had been that it was laundry day back at the lair.

Yori continued. "You are well known as one of Yamanuchi's most famous graduates in recent times. The American superhero coming to learn the ancient arts at our school was of great pride to Yamanuchi. It has been the subject of school legend even since you have left. Of course, that upon graduation you entered the service of a mad villain to conduct many failed attempts at conquering the world… less pride, I am told."

Shego didn't take offense, though she gave Yori a scowl for form's sake. "Wait, less pride because I entered the service or a mad villain or less pride because the guy I'm working for has failed in his conquest attempts?" asked Shego.

Yori held out her hands palms-up in a gesture of helplessness. "Cannot it be both?" she said.

"You seem to know a lot about me, even if I am a school legend," said Shego.

"Ah, I confess. It is my honor to serve on the student committee that puts together the alumni magazine. May I say by the way that your donation to the school this year was most appreciated," said Yori.

Brushing some imaginary dust off one of her gloves, Shego replied, "Well I'm not a cheapskate like some people I know."

As if she was merely completing a prior thought, Yori spoke again, "We understand that that recent graduates are limited in the finances available for donation."

"Are you implying something about my donation?" said Shego.

"I would never say such a thing, Shego-san," said Yori. "Here we are inside the school now. You said earlier that you wanted to look at old yearbooks and that your mission was urgent. It would be my honor to provide whatever assistance might best speed you on your way."

"Speed me on my way. Yeah. I'm here to find out about a Yamanuchi graduate. Guy's about forty years old, has a scar right here," said Shego, gesturing across her lips where Alpha's scar had been. "He's working for the Worldwide Evil Empire. A tricky guy."

After some thought, Yori responded, "I believe I know who you are speaking of, Shego-san. Let us make sure I am correct."

Shego followed the teenager down a short path and into the records building. _This seems a little too easy_, she thought.

Inside, Yori pulled down a few books until she located the photograph she was looking for. "Is this the honorable Yamanuchi graduate you wish to know of?"

Shego slapped her hand down on the picture. "That's him. Tell me about him."

"As much as it would be my honor to educate you on the many gaps in your knowledge, Shego-san, what is the purpose behind your request?" said Yori, not giving anything away.

Shego considered lying, but that wasn't her style. "I had to fight this guy not too long ago when my boss crossed paths with WWEE. He's calling himself Agent Alpha, so I figure he's on board long-term. I might have to fight him again pretty soon, so I want to know what I'm dealing with."

Yori bowed her head. "Ah, the tragedy of fellow graduates being forced against each other by their sworn duties. We were taught in class that this might happen to us some day."

"I must have missed that class. What did they teach you to do about it?" asked Shego.

"Compare contracts, determine if a fight is unavoidable, and if you are unable to make sudden use of vacation time, remember to go only so far as honor and contract require," said Yori.

"I'll keep that in mind. You going to tell me about this guy or not?" asked Shego.

"Such is my responsibility as a member of the student alumni committee. Of course, if Ichikawa-san comes to the school inquiring about you, it will be my honor to tell him as much as possible," replied Yori. "To begin, his name, American-style, is Masuyo Ichikawa."

Yori went on to describe Masuyo's career, so far as she knew of it. It was a history of short but effective terms of service with organizations and individuals all over the globe, for which Masuyo charged exceedingly high prices. He had come to speak at the school once during Yori's attendance, and she described him as a cautious, careful man who lectured on the dangers of excitability and over-enthusiasm. Of specific tactics and strategies that Masuyo might use, Yori claimed to know nothing. Nor could she provide a recent mailing address for him.

When Yori had finished, Shego spoke. "That wasn't too helpful. Chalk up one wasted trip," she said.

"I am sure that your current employment has prepared you well to endure the frustrations of wasted effort, Shego-san," said Yori.

Shego suddenly lashed out and shoved the teenager back several feet. "All right, that's it! You've been hitting me with the snide comments and double-talk and backhanded insults since I got here. What's your problem with me, kid? Don't like the company I keep?"

Yori's kept up her carefully bland expression, but she shifted to a combat stance. "Many are puzzled why you continue renewing your contracts with Dr. Drakken, but it is understood that no employer can be ideal. I confess, I have personal reasons to think ill of you. You are the enemy of a friend of mine."

"Aww, don't tell me I've got another groupie for Kim Possible on my hands here," said Shego with disgust.

"I am referring to Ron Stoppable," said Yori.

"The sidekick? Seriously? How does he even know someone at Yamanuchi?" said Shego

"That is… a long story," replied Yori.

"I don't even think of him as my enemy. Kim Possible is my enemy. He's more like… a distraction. So if you don't like me, why are you being so helpful?" asked Shego.

"You just said this trip had not been helpful at all!" said Yori defiantly.

"Point. All right, you seem to want a piece of me, and far be it from me not to give people what they want. You and me, outside, right now. Just a little sparring, see what Sensei is teaching these days. I promise I won't even use my powers," said Shego. _Well, I won't use my powers unless I start to lose_," she thought.

"It would be my honor," replied Yori.

* * *

First off, confession time. I actually ended up splitting this chapter in two, mostly because of this long Yamanuchi sequence I've added. So anything I've mentioned about coming chapters, bump it back by one chapter.

I almost worry I'm making Drakken and Shego work a little too smoothly and effectively here. Perhaps it's best to think of this as being how they can be, when they're at the top of their game. Much of the time Drakken won't listen to Shego, or Shego gets too lazy to try and sway Drakken from his bad ideas, but this is the synergy they can have when everything is working.

Still probably spent way too many pages on that opening sequence, but how Drakken and Shego interact really interests me. I like playing with it, finding the give and take in their relationship.

As I mentioned, the Yamanuchi sequence was something I dropped in, not in the original outline. But that's okay, I think I've found a way to play it that'll give valuable insight into Shego's character and some of the themes I've been planning to hit later in the story. Also, it gave me the chance to try writing Yori. Most of the play Yori gets in fanfics is her interacting with Ron. I'm not sure I've ever seen her show up in a story without him, so I feel like I'm breaking some new ground here.

The angle I'm taking is that Yori is an expert with the doubletalk and subtle shades of meaning and such. She really likes Ron, so with him it's playful and just a way to nudge him towards living up to his potential. With someone she dislikes, she can have a somewhat sharper tongue. Of course, the great thing about putting her with Shego is that it reverses Shego's usual role. This time Shego is the one getting insulted, and she isn't sure how to make a proper come-back, the same role Drakken usually plays to Shego. Yori is actually rather fun to write.

Anyway, thanks to Jezrianna2.0, Eva91, PoisonousAngel, Blackfire 18, Robert Teague, and Tito for their comments.

Blackfire, I try really hard to pay attention to all the details. The only thing I will reserve is that sometimes characters will behave irrationally and do things that aren't totally consistent or aren't in their own best interest, because that's how people can be at times. But I promise, everything I put in has a purpose… except for the things I put in just because I think they're cool.

Robert, you're right, Drakken did say outright that Shego was a ninja. He also employs ninjas during 'So the Drama', so clearly he knows where to go to hire them. Since I inserted this Yamanuchi sequence, next chapter may shed some more light on how much Yamanuchi concerns itself with what its graduates do. (Now I just have to figure out how well Yori should actually do in her fight with Shego.)

Hoping to have the next chapter out relatively soon.


	6. Youth and Vigor vs Old Age and Treachery

Yori spun about, making sweeping up-and down motions with her fans so that Shego could not tell from which direction the next attack would come. Though made of paper, razor-sharp blades were embedded along their edges, promising damaging slashes to anything caught in their path. With a grunt of frustration, Shego dodged back yet again. She wasn't quick enough, however, and a hole was sliced in one of her sleeves. The skin beneath was untouched, but Shego still felt infuriated. It was yet another point for Yori.

_Time to go on the offense_, Shego thought.

Shego wasn't unarmed in this fight. Though she had promised not to use her powers, Shego had put on her gloves. Claws that she constantly kept filed to sharp points jutted out from the ends of the fingers. They didn't give her the reach that Yori's fans did, but they were much easier to control. They were also more durable, as Shego demonstrated with an unexpected backhanded slash that shredded one of Yuri's fans, rendering it useless.

After Yuri's careful dance was interrupted by the destruction of one of her weapons, Shego followed up with a solid kick to Yuri's chest. The younger woman was sent stumbling back several yards to slam back-first up against a stone wall.

Murmurs erupted from all sides of the courtyard. The fight had drawn an audience of black-clad students. None of them were making any motion to interfere, and there were no cheers. Two female students were making their feelings abundantly clear, though. Somehow in the few minutes the fight had been going, they had managed to put together a banner saying, '**Yori**', and they were holding it stretched out between them.

Shego moved in to strike while Yori was stunned and finish the fight. Yori, however, had other ideas. She reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out a handful of pellets. When the pellets hit the ground, they erupted into a cloud of smoke, obscuring her location. It was a good plan, but Shego was too experienced an opponent to be fooled so easily. She knew Yori's training and had been observing Yori's fighting style for the past few minutes. Shego knew where Yori would jump to.

So when Yori leapt out of the smoke cloud, coming to the top of her arc perfectly placed to land on a nearby stone pillar, Shego was already waiting on top of said pillar. There wasn't a lot of time for banter, but Shego still managed to squeeze in an evil, "Ah-ah-ah!" as she landed yet another kick on Yori's midsection. Yori was sent flying into a small pond, impacting the water with a splash.

Shego waited at the edge of the pond, not sure how much fight Yori would still have in her. The answer turned out to be plenty, as Yori splashed upright and slogged through the water towards Shego. Yori's soaking wet clothes were weighing her down, she had just taken two powerful kicks in a relatively short time period, and Shego held the higher ground; but Yori looked ready to resume the fight anyway. As Shego waited, she decided to end the battle with a straight punch to Yuri's jaw.

The matter was taken out of both their hands, however, as a deep-voiced cry of, "Enough!" echoed through the training yard. Sensei walked into the open, looking extremely unhappy. He looked much as Shego remembered, a solidly built elderly Japanese man wearing white robes, with a long, thin white mustache.

The watching students scattered. Shego backed away from the edge of the pond, allowing Yori room to escape and walk up to Sensei. Yori bowed to her teacher, ignoring Shego. "Sensei, I am deeply shamed," said Yori.

She and Sensei conversed in hushed tones for a minute or so. Meanwhile, Shego fidgeted and tried to decide if she should just leave. Just as she had decided that would be the wisest course of action, Yori and Sensei finished their quick conference. Yori bowed in Sensei's direction and immediately walked away, not sparing a backward glance for Shego.

Sensei cleared his throat and turned to Shego. "Your obedience is no longer mine to command, but would a former student do the honor of speaking with her teacher?"

Shego walked up to Sensei, putting as much swagger in her walk as she could reasonably manage. "I'm surprised you're not trying to kick me out of your school," she said.

"Fights only to be expected among the young. Always wanting to try out their skills. Yori and you fought with honor, so the offense is minor for her," said Sensei. "And your obedience-"

"Is no longer yours to command," finished Shego. "Right, got it, but that's not what I meant. I meant that you might take offense at me going to work for an evil madman who's trying to conquer the world. You thought you were training a superhero, and I turn out to be evil. Kind of broke our deal, there," said Shego. She held up her hands and pantomimed breaking a stick for emphasis.

Sensei looked Shego in the eye calmly. "I have taken a vow to do no more violence, but it was not always so. As the butterfly was once the caterpillar, so was I once a different man before I became the Sensei of Yamanuchi. In my youth and for many years after, I did much that I now regret. So it is not for me to judge the actions of others," said Sensei.

"Puh-leese. Whatever works for you. Just don't think I'm going to turn around and reform one day. Been there, done the hero thing, liking the evil better. So I'll be sticking with pitching in on the world conquest plans, thanks," said Shego. Despite the firmness of her words, she felt somehow on the defensive.

"And when your employer succeeds in conquering the world, what will you do then?" asked Sensei.

Shego chuckled to herself. "Trust me, there's not much danger of that happening any time soon."

"So you do not wish to succeed," said Sensei.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're twisting what I'm saying. Drakken tries his best, and not all his ideas are bad. It's just that Kim Possible gets in the way. I fight her, she gets past me, and Dr. D's not on the ball enough to stop her from screwing everything up. And why am I explaining this to you?" said Shego.

"So Kim Possible is the challenge you must defeat for your own satisfaction?" said Sensei, ignoring Shego's question.

Shego considered. "That's probably a part of it. Of course, a bigger part of it is just that I enjoy my job."

Sensei gave her a measuring look. "Do you know why this Kim Possible always defeats you?" he said.

"Hey, she doesn't always beat me. We don't finish most of our fights. I have to help Drakken get away. And I've had her down for the count a time or two. Okay, usually because I got a lucky break somehow, but that still counts! What are you trying to say? That I'm tanking the fights? That I could beat Kim if I wanted to, it's just that I don't want to? Is that what you're saying?" said Shego, pushing continually closer to Sensei as she spoke, until she was practically in his face.

"Hmmm. No, nothing so complicated. Kim Possible defeats you because she is a better fighter than you are," said Sensei.

"Oh," said Shego. She crossed her arms and looked away from Sensei. She felt rather disappointed. "So what's your point?"

"Point? No point. Just asking a former student about her life," said Sensei.

"And I answered you because you taught me how to kick people in the head, but I think we're about done here," said Shego. She turned and started to walk away.

"Masuyo Ichikawa is also better then you. You will not be able to defeat him," said Sensei.

Shego turned back. "So not! I went up against him, and I know I can take him."

"But you did not defeat him," said Sensei.

"He got some reinforcements," said Shego. "He got lucky."

"He is not a man who trusts to luck. He is your superior in skill and he will be prepared in your next encounter. You cannot defeat him as you are, but I can tell you his weakness," said Sensei.

"And why would you do that? We're both former Yamanuchi students. Why make more trouble for Masuyo?" asked Shego.

"Perhaps this foolish old man merely wishes to ingratiate himself with the sidekick of the future ruler of the world," said Sensei, smiling slightly.

Shego rolled her eyes and walked back to stand beside Sensei. "All right, I'll play. Tell me, how do I beat him?"

"It is simple," said Sensei. He leaned in to Shego and whispered three English words into her ear. Then he pulled back.

"That's it? That's it!" yelled Shego. "I could have got that off of a fortune cookie. It's not even original."

"That is it. Be well, my former student," said Sensei. He stood politely at attention.

Shego stood there shaking her head for a moment, then turned and walked towards the gate. Sensei watched her go.

_I wonder what Shego would have said if I had told her my real reason for helping her. I swore to nonviolence, but that doesn't mean I cannot help two evils fight each other. The more evenly matched they are, the greater the chance that they will destroy each other. I think perhaps she would have laughed and approved of my ruthlessness_, though Sensei.

It was easy to slip into the role of all-knowing martial arts master, but that was a front for others. Sensei had hard-earned wisdom, yes. He had knowledge of the interaction of the body and spirit and knew much of ancient lore. Still, his questions to Shego had not been some subtly Socratic teaching method, but rather an honest attempt to learn where his former student's head was at these days. Shego claimed to have embraced evil, and Sensei was rather inclined to believe her.

Shego was not beyond redemption. No one was, in Sensei's opinion. At present, though, she and her employer were a danger to the world. However, Masuyo Ichikawa and his employer were also a danger to the world. And Yamanuchi, neutral as it was by tradition in matters of morality, still existed in the world. Sensei could have given Shego more help, of course, but the ideal goal was that Shego and Masuyo destroy each other, and his advice was calculated to that effect.

It was a pity, though. For all Shego's faults, Sensei had rather liked her.

* * *

Shego paused outside the gates of the school, cocking her head to one side as if listening to something. Then she turned around, fists erupting into green flame. "Back for more? And you brought friends. This is going to be fun!"

"No, Shego-san. I only wish to give you something before you leave," said Yori. She stepped out of the shadows, followed by the two girls who had been holding up the banner for her earlier. In her hands she was holding a book, which she extended out towards Shego.

"What's that," said Shego suspiciously.

"Your Yamanuchi yearbook. I checked, and you left it behind when you graduated. I wish you to have it back," said Yori.

"You're a very weird girl, you know that?" said Shego. She reached out and took the yearbook. "Keep up the practice, and you might be a real challenge some day."

"Oh, I am sure I will never be anything like you, Shego-san," said Yori. She smiled viciously and left. Yori's two supporters paused to stick out their tongues at Shego and make faces at her before following their friend back into the school.

_That wasn't so bad. At least now I know I'm so over that place, even if I didn't learn much_, thought Shego as she walked down the mountain. Without much else to do, she flipped open the yearbook and started idly looking through it for pictures of herself.

Each picture of Shego had been mutilated with an ink pen. On one horns and a snakelike tongue had been drawn, and on another she had been given a thick beard and mustache. Shego flipped to the back cover and found a short note. **Any time, any place, Shego. Yori.**

Shego laughed nastily to herself, somehow not all that upset. "Maybe she's more like me than she thinks."

* * *

Doctor Drakken squinted at the paper he held in his hand, as if hoping that if he looked at it hard enough, the numbers would change. "Oh come now, Thomas, I just had new pipes installed a year ago. How can they need to be replaced already?" he said.

He was speaking to a twenty-something Jamaican man dressed in plumber's overalls and carrying a wrench. The man's hair was bundled into thick braids, several of which hung low from his forehead, obscuring his eyes. The man, whose name was Thomas, replied, "Ya mon, I know when the pipes were put in. My dad installed them as one of his last jobs before he retired. I hate to tear out his work, but it looks liked someone pumped acid through those pipes or something."

**Two Months Ago**

Drakken looked out over the boiling pit of acid. "This should be just the thing to take care of any intruders," he said.

Shego raised a hand. "I appreciate the heat and acid double death combo, but isn't that just going to boil away?"

"No worries, Shego. I picked up a tanker full of acid on the cheap, and I'm piping it in through the lair's plumbing. It'll last for a month. Plenty of time," said Drakken.

"That's the same plumbing we get our water through?" asked Shego, alarmed.

"Hey, they're water pipes. They're self-cleaning. What could happen?" asked Drakken.

**Back in the Present**

Tapping his fingertips together, Drakken slumped in defeat. "Really. Er, I have no idea how that could have happened," he said. Then the rest of what Thomas had said registered. "Wait, you father Gerard retired? But he was so young. He's been working on my lairs ever since I got into the business. Good man. Why would he retire?"

"He was 59, mon. He'd been a plumber for forty years, and that was enough. Hey mon, in a few years you'll be thinking about retiring yourself from… whatever it is you do here," said Thomas.

"Few years? Few! I'll have you know I'm still a long way from 59," said Drakken, enraged. "And… and another thing. I'm not going to pay full price for you. I thought this estimate was for your father's work. I was willing to pay for an _experienced_ plumber, not his punk son."

"That's the rate, mon. If you don't want to pay it, I'll go and you can find someone else willing to come all the way out here to work," said Thomas. He looked around doubtfully, implying he didn't think Drakken would find anyone else.

"This is extortion! And believe me, I know my extortion," said Drakken. In a whiny voice he added, "It's no fun being on this end of it."

Thomas shrugged. "A mon has to earn a living."

"Oh he does, does he?" said Drakken. He walked over to the wall and threw a switch, causing a giant laser to unfurl from the ceiling and point down in Thomas's direction. "How would you like to never have to worry about working for 'a living' again, Thomas?"

"That would be great, mon, but I'm not charging you enough to retire on. Don't be so dramatic," said Thomas, apparently not having noticed the laser.

"No, I meant that if you weren't alive any longer you wouldn't have to- That is to say, it was a threat. I- Oooooh," said Drakken. He know that a threat you had to explain probably wasn't a very effective threat, so he gave up and contented himself with merely clenching his fists menacingly.

"You need to relax, mon," said Thomas.

"Go ahead and do what you need to do. Just make sure we're done with the wash before you cut water to the laundry room," ordered Drakken. He turned and walked away to the bathroom, leaving Thomas behind to begin work.

Once safely inside, Drakken put his hands on the sink counter and lowered his head. He took a deep breath, then studied his own reflection in the mirror. _Retirement? Hah, nonsense. I'm fit and young, not even a grey hair. It'll be twenty years before I think about retiring_, thought Drakken.

Even as he tried to reassure himself, though, Drakken's thoughts spun away in their customary thousand different directions. He started to envision retirement plans of all sorts_. Perhaps I should bury a chest of gold on the beach. Maybe I should start directing some of that money from Malcom into a secret Swiss bank account instead of spending it all on my plans. Or real estate, I could invest in real estate_, Drakken thought to himself.

Drakken had just gotten to the idea of freeze-drying henchmen into cryogenic pods so that he could wake them up to serve him when he was old when he interrupted himself by pounding on his own head. "No, no, no!" shouted Drakken at his reflection in the mirror.

The problem was, none of these retirement plans were built around the idea of Drakken ruling the world. It forced Drakken to wonder if even he believed he could do it anymore. True, he wasn't old yet, but he was getting older every year. Meanwhile, his arch-foe, Kim Possible, was at the part of her life where she was getting better every year. Faster, stronger, closer to her prime. It seemed to Drakken that if he were to do something, he would have to do it soon.

At the moment, however, there was still the problem of Gemini to worry about. Drakken wondered if Gemini ever worried about getting too old.

* * *

"I worry that you're too old, Doctor," said Gemini. He lounged back in his seat, stroking his pet Chihuahua as he stared at the man across the table.

"Herr Gemini, please. I am making progress each day. It is only a matter of time until I learn enough to complete the machine," said the man Gemini was speaking to. He was a short bald man in his sixties, dressed in a white lab coat. His eyes were covered by glasses so thick that it was difficult to make out the color of his eyes beneath them.

"There, you see? That's the problem. A man your age trying to learn things, Dr. Vachslo, is in for a very difficult time. When I entrusted you with this project, it was with the idea that you didn't need to learn anything, that you were already expert enough to make Lipsky's machine function without further delay. That was what you promised me. I dislike it when people break promises to me," said Gemini.

"You must understand, Gemini, there is science and then there is mad science. Attempting to untangle the threads of Lipsky's genius is difficult to begin with. Add to that the… personnel difficulties the lab has suffered, and you cannot be surprised at the delays," replied Dr. Vachslo.

"So you're telling me I '_must_ understand' and I '_cannot_ be surprised', is that what you're telling me? Well, Dr. Vachslo, it seems you think you should be in charge of this evil organization. Here, why don't you take my seat at the head of the table?" said Gemini. He got up and pushed his chair back.

"Please Herr Gemini, that was not what I meant," said Dr. Vachslo, sounding terrified.

"Oh, but I insist," said Gemini in a menacing tone. He pointed his cyber-hand in Vachslo's direction.

Reluctantly, Vachslo walked over and took Gemini's seat. He continued to speak. "I really can do much better, sir. Just a little more time and I can give you all the tools you need to destroy Global Justice."

At the mention of 'Global Justice', Gemini's dog Pepe gave a furious bark. Gemini shook his head. "Doctor, you forget that there's certain names we don't mention around little Pepe here. I'm afraid I was right about you. Goodbye," said Gemini. He pulled out a control pad and tapped several buttons on it. In response, a panel opened up in the wall and Dr. Vachslo's chair was drawn into the dark void. The panel closed neatly behind him.

Gemini pulled up a new chair and sat back down at the table. "Alpha, let the boys in the laboratory know that they need a new project leader," he said.

Agent Alpha, who had been lurking in one of the room's shadowy corners, cleared his throat. "There are no more 'boys in the laboratory', by lord. You had them disposed of two days ago."

"So that means that Dr. Vachslo was…" said Gemini.

"Yes sir, the last member of WWEE who knew anything about Drakken's machine. Which leaves you with no one to complete the machine," replied Alpha.

With odd calmness, Gemini asked, "So why didn't you warn me before I disposed of Vachslo?"

"It is not my place, or my contract, to question your orders, my lord," said Alpha, subtly moving into a defensive posture. He thought that Gemini was taking this entirely too well, and he was regretting the perverse impulse that had kept him from speaking up about Gemini's mistake.

Gemini swiveled his chair around slowly. "I've disposed of many agents for less, Alpha. Fortunately for you, I already have someone in mind to put together the pieces of Project Firebreak," he said.

"Already? But that means-" Alpha's eyes narrowed. "This was no mistake. You disposed of the laboratory team and Dr. Vachslo deliberately. Telling me to call the 'boys in the lab' was your idea of a joke."

Putting his dog on the table, Gemini gave a little clap. "Very good. Their progress was insufficiently fast and once I decided to pull them off the project…. Well, I couldn't have them walking around with all that knowledge, could I?"

"Then the 'someone else' you have in mind must be Drakken himself, yes? Shall I scout out his island lair to make preparations for grabbing him, my lord?" said Alpha.

"That won't be necessary. I will be handling the matter personally. Just continue with your normal duties," said Gemini.

"But my lord, Drakken has deactivated the robotic flies you were using to spy on him. You need my stealth skills to track his movements for you and make the capture," protested Alpha.

"Mmmm. No, I don't believe that I do. As with so much else, I have the matter well in hand." said Gemini smugly.

Alpha stared at his employer quizzically for a few moments. "Why did you hire me, Gemini? It seems that we have a certain… skill overlap."

"To do things I am too busy to do. To give me an edge against my sister when I finally face her. Many reasons. Also, it seems that sidekicks are in fashion this year," replied Gemini. It was hard to tell whether he was joking or not.

"Ah," replied Alpha. There didn't seem to be much else to say.

"So, do you want to go grab a drink?" asked Gemini in a friendly manner.

"Only if you promise to tell me why you are so confident about your ability to kidnap Drakken, my lord," answered Alpha seriously.

"The drink and you also have to promise to wear the 'Agent Alpha' uniform," said Gemini, with an evil grin.

* * *

Shego rappelled down the side of the rock face, landing on a platform bolted to the side of the cliff. "Hey Doctor D," she announced.

Drakken turned away from the device he was working on in order to greet his sidekick. "Shego! Back from the trip? I trust you got whatever it was you were looking for."

Shego made a dismissive gesture. "I found out a little about Gemini's 'Agent Alpha', but the trip was kind of a waste. Did manage to trash a few childhood memories though, and that's always fun. Anything happen around here?"

"No progress on Gemini yet, but I do have someone in to fix the plumbing. That 'someone' being a smart-mouthed punk. Tried to tell me I should be thinking about retirement," said Drakken.

"He got under your skin? Sounds like just my kind of guy," said Shego with a wicked smile.

"Eh," said Drakken, turning away. He banged a wrench on the equipment he had been working on. "Shego, do you ever feel like the younger generation is catching up to you? Like you're going to get only a certain number of chances in life, and too many have already gone by?"

"Nope. Compared to you, Doc, I _am_ the younger generation. As for catching up with you? Not too tough," said Shego.

"Ah Shego, you always know the perfect put-down to pick me up," said Drakken.

"It's a gift," replied Shego. "Still, after this latest trip I do know what you mean about the urge to smack down some of those up-and-comers."

"Exactly! That's part of the reason I'm installing this," said Drakken. He pointed at his machine.

"And this would be?" Shego asked skeptically.

"Well, if I want people to continue thinking of this island as haunted, I need to provide them with a few ghosts. Hence the hologram projector here. All I have to do is project a few gruesome images out onto the ocean every once in a while, and no one will dare trespass here," said Drakken.

"That sounds like a good plan. So where does it get stupid?" asked Shego.

"It doesn't! I'm going to give it its test run the night our plumber friend ships out. Scare some respect into him," said Drakken. "We'll see how he likes having these dance around him." Drakken flipped a few switches, causing his intended hologramatic projection to appear on a small screen.

Shego looked at the screen, then sighed. "Newsflash, characters from a TV show for pre-K children are not exactly striking fear into the hearts of adults."

"But I-" began Drakken.

"No, I don't care how scared you are of Mr. Sitdown. Not going to work. How about trying some characters from somewhere actually scary? Like a- a-" said Shego, hesitating at the end.

"A horror film?" Drakken suggested.

"Yeah, something like that. You know Doc, usually you're a little more direct when you're mad at someone," said Shego.

"Oh, I was going to put some mutant snakes into the pipes he was working on, but I didn't have any on hand and they take so long to mutate," replied Drakken. "Say Shego, I don't suppose you'd like to beat him up for me?"

"What I'd _like_ is to have working plumbing. Stick with the holograms," said Shego.

Drakken sighed. "Very well. I suppose this Gemini situation still has me infuriated. I'm ready to show that two-bit evil bureaucrat that it takes real evil genius to conquer the world."

"Ah, we'll get him," said Shego.

* * *

"We've got him, sir" shouted henchman Carter, running into Drakken's laboratory with a bundle of papers under one arm.

Drakken jerked his head up, hitting it on the machinery overhead. "Oww! A little more caution in delivering the news, Mr. Carter," he grumbled, rubbing his head.

"Gimmie!" said Shego, jumping out of her chair. She snatched the papers from Carter and began flipping through them.

"The one you're looking for is right there on top. If you would just let me…." said Carter, trailing off as Shego glared at him. He sensibly decided to wait in silence as she took the papers over to Drakken.

"It looks like they're sending the parts for your Project Firebreak to this Field Museum of Natural Science and History," said Shego.

Drakken reached out to take hold of the papers. Shego taunted him briefly by holding them out of reach, but she only made him grab at them a couple of times before letting him have them. He took a minute to read the evidence more thoroughly than Shego had bothered.

"Yes, this is the place all right," said Drakken. He paused briefly. "You know… a museum as a lair would actually be a very fine idea. Think of it, Shego! No one would question the delivery of strange packages from all over the world. No one would question a museum having a tight security system, or a lab area where visitors aren't allowed. It would be wonderful camouflage."

"I suppose," said Shego cautiously.

"And when I'm done with an experiment, I could charge full ticket price to see it," added Drakken cheerily. "Henchman Carter! Make a note of that for me. Museum lair, looking into."

"Yes sir," said Carter.

Shego just pressed a palm against her forehead, a pained expression on her face.

* * *

The plan was simple. Drakken and Shego would fly a cargo plane into a nearby airport. Then, under cover of darkness, they'd fly a cargo-equipped hover car out to the museum and take back Drakken's invention by force. After some discussion, Drakken had agreed to leave the henchmen behind, based on Shego's insistence that stealth was called for.

As the plane entered the airport's airspace, Drakken's phone began to ring. He glanced at the display, then put it back into his pocket without answering it.

"What, telemarketer?" asked Shego.

"No, it was Malcom. I have no time for pointless business trivialities right now. I'm just too keyed up!" said Drakken, excitement in his voice.

Shego adjusted her earphones as she received a transmission over the cockpit radio. "You're going to have to be keyed up for another half hour. We've been bumped on landing privileges, so we're going to have to circle a while," she told Drakken.

"What! This is ridiculous. How dare they make us wait? Don't they know who I am?" asked Drakken.

"They know you're John Smith, ordinary cargo plane owner. Of course if you want, I could tell them that Dr. Drakken, would-be world conqueror, is on board. I bet they'd get us landing privileges really fast then," said Shego snidely.

"Of, you think?" answered Drakken, missing the sarcasm as usual.

"Doy, and have about a thousand police plus Kim Possible waiting for us when we got down. Just curious, do you ever use that supposedly genius brain of yours to think things through?" asked Shego.

"Genius isn't easy, Shego. It keeps my brain too busy to think about mundane details," said Drakken, trying to maintain his dignity. He paused a moment to try and figure if he had just accidentally insulted himself, then decided that he had not.

Shego gave a shrug, intending to let the conversation lapse back into silence.

Drakken wouldn't allow it, though. "When I rule the world, things will be different. Then my name will inspire fear, respect, and fast landing times. No more circling the airport then!" he said.

"How?" said Shego, after a moment.

"Why, I expect they'll bump other planes for me, like we're being bumped now," explained Drakken. He was confused at Shego's question.

"No, I mean how will things be different when you take over the world? What exactly do you plan to do once you're in charge? Other than get good landing times," said Shego.

"I…." began Drakken, before lapsing into furious thinking. He realized that for once, his imagination was failing him. Rather than a hundred ideas competing to be thought out, he was drawing a complete blank. He knew he wanted respect and power so he could make everything go his way, but beyond that he wasn't quite sure. The idea of actually administering the world didn't much appeal. That would take him out of his laboratory far too much and keep him away from his experiments.

Shego was staring at him, waiting for an answer. Drakken desperately wished that she could utter some sarcasm or otherwise say something he could take offense at, rather than waiting patiently for the answer to her quite reasonable question. Her stare was getting uncomfortable.

"I always saw myself in more of a supervisory role," he finally said. "Not so much in all the nitty-gritty everyday government. I'll just… allow the current governments to continue what they're doing. Underneath my supervision, of course. And they'll only bother me when… there's a problem. Yes, I'd be more of a high level problem solver. Something goes wrong and they'll come to me, properly appreciative of my genius of course, and I'll find a way to fix it. Then I retire to my lab until I'm needed again." Drakken nodded his head to Shego, finally relaxing. It had been a bit sticky for a moment, but the plan was fairly obvious once he thought about it.

"So let me see if I understand this," said Shego. There was an odd tension in her voice. "You'd let the world pretty much run like it does now, except people will cheer you and respect your… genius. And when the world has problems, they'll come to you, and you as ruler will go out and help people with their problems."

"Precisely," said Drakken.

"I bet you could even have some way of letting people contact you directly with their problems. Say a website of some sort where people could send their requests for help," said Shego. She was carefully controlling herself.

"That's an excellent idea, Shego. Of course, I'll need to assign a henchman to sort through all the requests and set my schedule, but the concept is sound," mused Drakken, glancing out the window. When he looked back at Shego, he realized she had a very odd expression on her face. If it wasn't utterly ridiculous, he would have said that she was horrified. "Shego, is there something wrong?" he asked.

"But you'll actually have to take over the world first," said Shego. She shook her head as if trying to drive out bad thoughts. "So we don't have to worry about that yet."

"Oh, I think I'm getting very close to-"

"We don't have to worry about that yet!" yelled Shego.

Drakken shrank back into his seat and shut up.

"Let's… let's just be quiet for a while. You work on your death ray designs, m'kay?" said Shego.

Drakken nodded vigorously and took out his notepad, wondering what he had said to upset Shego so much.

* * *

They landed the hover car just outside the museum. The plan was to first scout out the place, having Shego disable the security, and then summon the hover car when they were ready to haul off the Project Firebreak machine.

A soft glow appeared in Drakken's hand as he flipped open the screen on a small device. He poked a few buttons and studied the screen. "My biometric scanner says that there's no one inside, Shego," he announced.

"What, not even some guards?" Shego said doubtfully.

"The scanner doesn't lie, Shego. I built it myself," replied Drakken.

"Well that inspires confidence," replied Shego sarcastically. "Tell you what, we're just going to pretend that the scanner might possibly be wrong and there is someone inside, okay?"

"Must you always complicate everything? Just get the door open so we can get my machine," ordered Drakken.

Shego studied the alarm on the entrance door. It was a decent model, but no match for her skills. A pried up panel and jolt of plasma to the proper location later, and the door popped open an inch.

Drakken started to push forward through the door, but Shego shoved him back. "Hold on!" she whispered. She extended a small periscope through the tiny crack the door had been opened and peered about, searching for cameras. After finding what she was looking for, she pulled back the periscope.

"All right. I'm going to zap their power line. It'll put their cameras out of position for a few seconds. When it does, we move. Got it?" asked Shego.

Drakken nodded in response, so Shego followed through with her plan. During the instant the cameras cut out she yanked Drakken through the door, closing it behind them, and into a blind spot for the museum cameras. Safe for the moment, she paused to take stock.

It wasn't as dark in the museum as it might have been. Though the main lights had been shut off, small emergency lights still glowed in a few corners. They provided enough illumination to make out the museum's contents. The platform they were currently lurking on was occupied by several dinosaur skeletons, and over on the other side of the room were what looked like some models of early cave men.

"It's creepy in here. My museum lair is going to have a lot more science and a lot fewer bones," said Drakken. He spoke quietly.

"You do all the lair design. Where would you put an entrance to a secret lab?" asked Shego.

"Hmmm." Drakken looked around, trying to see in the dim light. "The lab would be underground, of course. I'd want to have an entrance out in the exhibit area as well as one in the back. Errr… There, in the Paleolithic Sky Pavilion. It's perfect. You go in there and close the door behind you. Then instead of exiting out the other side when the time is up, there'll be a hidden elevator down to the lab."

"Worth a look," said Shego. She led Drakken on a circuitous path through the museum, avoiding the gaze of the security cameras. Just as they drew close to the Paleolithic Sky Pavilion, however, she pulled to a halt. "Aha-ha!" she muttered.

"Huh-what?" asked Drakken.

"Forget the Pavilion! Look at that rock wall in the cavemen exhibit. See the light leaking out from around those cracks? There's a door behind there," said Shego.

"Don't be ridiculous Shego. The old door in a rock wall trick? Done far too much. I'm telling you, there's an elevator in the Pavilion," contradicted Drakken.

"Doy, then why did they put a pit trap in front of said rock wall? I can see the outline on the floor. Face it Doctor D, Gemini is a traditionalist. You stay here. I've got this covered," said Shego.

While Drakken waited in front of the Pavilion, glowering, Shego crept towards the rock-door. There was a hidden card slide where one could presumably deactivate the trap. Lacking the proper key, Shego got a running start and gracefully leapt over the danger area. She then examined the door. It wasn't difficult to see where the alarm circuits were connected, and Shego spent a few seconds bypassing them. How to open the door, however, wasn't so obvious. Perhaps some sort of radio signal to a mechanism on the other side, Shego theorized. She'd seen something like that before once.

She listened at the door for a while, but there was nothing to be heard. It seemed doubtful that a guard would be posted directly behind the door, so Shego decided to take the gamble. She waved a hand for Drakken to be ready, then ignited the plasma around one of her fists. With a terrible and swift blow she punched the stone wall, intending to shatter it and clear the way inside.

Shego's fist broke through a thin stone shell and embedded itself in a gooey, sticky mass inside the wall. She tugged, but was unable to free herself. Hoping to move before whatever it was set, Shego lined up her free hand and released a plasma blast near the point where her trapped hand was embedded in the wall. The stone shell broke through in a different place, and a thick glob of whatever was inside surged out, catching Shego's free hand. Before she could react, surge reversed itself, drawing her formerly free hand with it. Shego now had both hands trapped inside what she was beginning to strongly suspect had never been any sort of door.

Behind Drakken, the door to the Paleolithic Sky Pavilion slid open. Drakken turned at the sound, seeing Gemini revealed in the doorway. Shocked, Drakken could only protest, "Impossible! My biometric scanner said there was no one in this museum." He waved the biometric scanner at Gemini, as if hoping it would make his foe disappear.

"Perhaps you should have double-checked it before you left," said Gemini. He reached out with his mechanical hand and grabbed Drakken by the face. An enormous electrical jolt was released from the hand into Drakken's head, causing Drakken's body to jerk in spastic action and fling away the scanner. Drakken slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Gemini waved at Drakken's trapped sidekick. "I admit, I was a bit worried when you two started to head towards the Pavilion here. Fortunately you decided to trust your instincts over your employer's brain," he said.

He walked over to Shego, stepping on the apparent pit trap without fear. "Now then. To business," he said.

It was at this point that Shego started to get worried.

**

* * *

**

Author's Notes:

Ouch, it's been over a week and a half, I know. Sorry, all I can say is that I fell a bit out of the writing grove last week. Still, I'm back now, and we're getting to the really fun stuff.

I'm still not confident on how the whole Yamanuchi side trip turned out. I hope I came up with an interesting twist on Sensei's motivations and actions (or lack of actions) in this matter. And that Yori, she just doesn't give up, does she?

Things got a lot easier for me on the downhill end of this chapter. I spent like five minutes cackling to myself over the line, "Say a website of some sort." And now we're getting back to the territory I had more heavily outlined. I'll try to have the next chapter out this weekend.

As always, I tried hard to balance the evil and the goofy, the genius and the incompetence. And with Shego, her being skilled versus sometimes screwing up all the same.

Thanks to Gargoylesama, Eva91, PoisonousAngel, Corencio, and Jezrianna2.0 for the reviews. I don't write for the reviews exactly, but it's nice to know people are reading and enjoying.

I'm glad that many of you like how Drakken and Shego play off each other. As I've said many times, they're just so much fun to write. Jezrianna, good thoughts on differing interpretations of characters. I want you to know that my interpretation is always influenced by a comment you made about not whitewashing Drakken and Shego too much. I just try to keep the funny too, that's all.


	7. Those Who Can, Those Who Can't

Despite having both arms captured by the wall of goo, Shego gave Gemini the best menacing glare she could manage under the circumstances. "This was a trap," she said.

"Oh, how insightful. My, I can see how you earned your reputation as a sharpie," said Gemini sarcastically. He put his hands together in a mocking little clap.

"You went to a lot of trouble to capture instead of kill. What do you want with us?" asked Shego.

"Want with 'us'? My, how you flatter yourself. I'm here for Mr. Lipsky and his magnificent mind. You're worthless to me, you dull-witted harpy," said Gemini. Despite his words, he walked closer to Shego and came to a stop near her, his arms crossed.

Shego pushed off from the wall and attempted to catch Gemini with a kick, but he had stopped just outside of her range. Frustrated, she fell back on verbal taunting. "Oh, I got it. You think you can bully Drakken into working for you, but you know I'm too dangerous," she said.

Gemini chuckled. "Mmmm. And there's that ego again. How is it you consider yourself so superior to Mr. Lipsky, when we both know you'd be helpless without him?"

So shocked was Shego that she just stood there opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water. The sheer ridiculousness of Gemini's statement kept her from composing a coherent reply for several seconds. Finally she said, "Excuse me? Excuse me? Blue boy needs me around to keep him from drowning in his soup. He may be good at making gadgets, but I've got the muscle, the common sense, and the style. And you have the nerve to say I'd be helpless without him? Where- Where is that coming from?"

Placing a metallic finger on his cheek, Gemini pretended to ponder. "Where indeed? I don't know, possibly from the fact that, _you've never had an original idea in your life!_"

Shego pushed herself closer to the wall, not immediately responding to Gemini's taunt. She studied him with narrowed eyes.

Seeing that Shego wasn't going to say anything, Gemini continued. "I must admit, Shego, I was fooled at first when I studied your profile. You reminded me of a younger version of myself. We both have great fighting skill combined with a little 'extra' to give us our edge." Gemini waved his cybernetic hand to indicate what he considered his edge, then continued. "We're both ruthless, intelligent individuals, not prone to making silly mistakes. Yet when I was your age, I was already putting together my criminal empire. You, in comparison, seem content to play second banana to a second-rate Professor Dementor imitator. I had to ask myself, why?"

"And you think it's because I don't have any other ideas?" said Shego. She tried to put contempt in her voice, but something about what Gemini was saying was hitting a bit close to home.

"Why yes, that's it exactly. I've had you under closer observation for some time now, as well as having certain… Agents of mine doing a little research on your past. The psychological profile I've assembled was quite informative. At last, your fatal weakness was revealed to me. You have don't have any grand schemes, any vision of the future, any new notions of how to put your skills to use. As far as I can tell, you've never come up with a plan in your life. I don't think you're capable of it," said Gemini.

"That's garbage. When Drakken sends me out to steal from someplace, I case the joint and I make the plan on how to get in and get out," said Shego in protest.

"Mere implementation, using your training and experience to direct your actions. Listen to yourself. 'When Drakken sends me out to steal.' If you're so much smarter than Lipsky, what was the last scheme you came up with? When did the two of you ever try one of your plans for world-conquest?" said Gemini.

Shego shifted her gaze back and forth, unable to look Gemini in the eye. "Hey, I have plenty of input on Doctor D's plans. I just don't like to bother with the whole 'evil ideas' thing. It's a lot of work."

"Ah, I knew we'd get to that one in time. The last refuge of the incompetent, 'I could, I just don't want to.' You fail to understand, Shego. For men of vision such as myself and Mr. Lipsky, it is not a matter of wanting or 'bothering' with creating plans. They come to us unbidden, visions of glorious potential that our pride and ambition drive us to make reality. That is why, despite the similarities you and I share, I have far more in common with your employer than I ever will with you," said Gemini. So affected was he by this speech that he wiped a tear away from his eye.

Fiery plasma ran up Shego's forearms as she tried yet again to burn away the wall trapping her hands. Something in the goo trapping her arms seemed to conduct and carry away all the heat and force, however, and her plasma bursts had no effect. Panting, she gave up and turned back to her captor. "You both like to run off at the mouth about how smart you are. I can see the resemblance," she said to Gemini.

"Well, I do like a bit of gloating now and then. You're right that I really should get back to business, though," said Gemini. He raised his cybernetic hand and shot Shego with an electric blast. It lasted for several seconds, and when it ended her muscles were twitching uncontrollably and her breathing was shallow. While she was out of it, Gemini walked forward and ran the metal fingers of his artificial hand through her long dark hair. It was a curiously gentle gesture. He then stepped back and began walking away.

When Shego had caught her breath, she asked, "So what, you're going to torture me for a while? Bring it on!"

"Torture? Only if I wanted something from you. No, the pain you experienced was a mere side-effect. I wanted to make sure I destroyed any devices that Lipsky might have given you. It wouldn't do if you were to escape before the big boom," said Gemini.

"Big boom?" asked Shego.

"Big boom," said Gemini. He tapped an empty display pedestal to which he had walked. The panels fell away from the sides, revealing a metal column with a small read-out screen on top. One the screen was a time of fifteen minutes. As Shego watched, the display changed to 14:59 and continued to count down.

"You're going to blow me up!" said Shego. Despite her outrage, she couldn't say she was really surprised. It did seem like kind of a supervillain thing to do.

"Yes. Part of my, um, modus operandi is to create chaos and confusion whenever possible. I think having the remains of an internationally wanted criminal show up in the explosion of a natural history museum should do the job. What was she doing there? Did she set the bomb; did someone else? Did her beloved blue boss get caught in the same explosion? Confusion, you see," said Gemini. As he was speaking, he walked quickly over to Drakken and hoisted the unconscious scientist across his shoulders.

"Beloved?" protested Shego.

"It's alliterative, go with it," replied Gemini.

"I'll escape," said Shego. Once again, she attempted to burn her way free of the wall, to no better effect than before.

"I doubt it. But if you do, I'm sure I'll be quaking in fear of the awesome revenge plan you'll no doubt devise," said Gemini. He began sniggering. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I could keep a straight face, but I can't. You're just too amusing." With that, he headed for the exit, carrying with him Doctor Drakken.

Shego watched him go, then took stock of her situation. Her plasma fire was having no effect. Obviously the trap had been designed with it in mind. Trying to pull her way free by force presented a problem as well. The seemingly rocky wall in front of her offered the only surface available for pushing off against. Unfortunately, as she had already discovered, the rock was a thin and easily breakable shell over the entrapping goo. If she tried to brace herself against it with a foot, her leg would just push through and she would have three limbs trapped by the goo rather than two. The floor beneath her was too smooth and well-polished to get much traction, and there was nothing else available within range.

There remained the somewhat obvious idea of just slipping her hands out of her gloves. Unfortunately, Shego's arms were buried well past the wrist, hiding the release buttons for her gloves. Further, the goo pushed against her already tight-fitting gloves, exerting a strong pressure. No matter how she tried, Shego couldn't get the slack to even begin wriggling her hands out.

_The first thing I need is to get my boots off_, thought Shego. It took a bit of maneuvering, but she was eventually able to slip off her footwear without using her hands. This left her toes free to grab things with, and Shego put them to immediate use. A quick check, that nonetheless wasted another minute of her precious time, revealed that Gemini had been successful in disabling the assorted devices she carried with her. No help there.

Shego squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to remember everything that had happened, searching for anything that could help her get out of the deadly trap she was in. _First Drakken and I came in. I led us past the security cameras. He wanted to go to the Paleolithic Sky Pavilion, but I thought I spotted a door in this fake stone wall. Then I punched the door and got myself trapped. Then Gemini walked out of the Pavilion and scared the bejeezus out of Drakken. Drakken waved his 'biometric scanner' thing at Gemini, and Gemini attacked him. The scanner went flying, and then… The scanner! It's still out there_, thought Shego

She opened her eyes. Many of Drakken's devices served more than one purpose, and Gemini had forgotten to retrieve or disable it. If she could get possession of the scanner, it might provide a way out. But where had it gone? The museum was still dark, but Shego possessed her own light source. It took some effort, but she was able to extend her plasma flames somewhat up the length of her arms, enough to be out of the goo. Sweatdrops from the effort beaded on Shego's brow as she pushed her glow not only out of its usual location but brighter than she normally bothered with.

The effort proved worthwhile when Shego spotted the biometric scanner only twelve feet away. It was twelve feet, but at the moment it might as well have been a mile. She looked around, hoping for something she could use. A few feet away stood a mannequin representing one of the first settlers of North America. The mannequin was in the process of braiding a primitive rope from some sort of twine.

Shego stretched out a leg, trying to grab the rope with her toes. It frustrated her, being just out of reach. She searched for a way to extend herself just a little further and found it in one of her boots. By grabbing the boot with her toes, Shego was able to use its tip to nudge the rope closer in, until she was able to grab the rope with her toes and pull it in all the way. She poked it doubtfully. It didn't look very strong, but at least it wasn't some sort of plastic model. Shego then began the difficult task of tying a lasso using only her toes. She avoided wasting time looking at the bomb's timer, not wanting to know how much time she had left.

Soon, Shego had a loop tied in the rope. She grabbed it with one foot and flung it out towards the scanner. It missed. Shego resisted the urge to waste time cursing. Instead she quickly dragged the rope back in until she could reach the loop. Taking more care this time, she again tossed the loop towards the biometric scanner. The second try was the charm, and it caught. Carefully but speedily, Shego began drawing the scanner back in. There was a worrisome moment or two when it almost slipped free, but finally Shego had the scanner available for use.

Now she just had to figure out what to do with it.

Shego decided she could risk a glance at the timer. It flashed on 2:48. Two minutes and forty-eight second were left. It wasn't a lot of time. Shego frantically began hitting the 'mode' button on the scanner with her toes. The screen cycled to a set of read-outs she didn't recognize, then another, then- Wait! The third read-outs matched up with the controls for the hover car. Shego began entering the code to summon the hover car to her, but it was difficult punching buttons her toes. She botched the job and had to start again. Finally, she entered the command correctly and hit execute.

The timer read 1:23. If this didn't work, there would be no time to try anything else. Shego strained her ears and for a long seconds was met only with a silence that indicated failure. A thought ran through her mind. _So I'm dying a failure. Great._

Then the doors at the front of the museum shattered inwards as the hover car crashed through them. It sped towards Shego, and she realized that she hadn't actually thought matters through past this point. The timer said 1:01 which meant there was no time to do this delicately. Hitting a button on the scanner controls caused the hover car to extend its cargo claws on the front. Another caused it to speed up. With a horrible splurch the cargo claws of the car dug into the stone covered shell of the goo trap at top speed. There was a wrench and the hover car tore the entire trap loose from the floor and pushed it through the internal wall into the next room of the museum. Shego was carried along for the ride.

Kicking up with her legs, Shego wrapped them around the hover car's pilot seat. This, at last, gave her the leverage she needed. With a hideous ripping sound, Shego yanked hard enough to tear the sleeves of her costume and allow her arms to pull out of the gloves and jumpsuit and free from the goo. Now hanging from the wildly careening hover car by only her legs, Shego swung herself up into the pilot's seat and took a grip on the controls. There was still a giant stone wall hanging from the cargo hooks and blocking her view to the front, but this was no time to worry about that. There was a bomb about to go off.

Glancing up, Shego saw a skylight in the roof above her head. It was perfect. She angled the hover car straight up, using the goo trap as a battering ram to push through the glass of the sky light and into the open air above the museum. The hover car climbed slowly due to the enormous weight it supported, and she had only managed to get a hundred meters above the museum when there was an explosion below. Gemini hadn't stinted on the bomb. Even at this distance, the concussive shockwave sent the car tumbling like a leaf blowing in the wind. Shego's forehead was slammed against the dashboard. Dazed, she nevertheless retained enough presence of mind to pull on the hover car's steering stick, preventing it from spiraling into a crash.

For the second time that night, Shego took stock of her situation. The motors of the hover car were making unpleasant noises. The weight of the goo trap was more than it was designed to carry. If she hadn't just suffered a blow to the head, Shego might have used her plasma powers to sever the cargo hooks and drop the excess weight. As it was, however, all she could think to do was land as soon as possible.

Below stretched out an expanse of cityscape. Not having taken the time to consciously pick a direction, Shego had been guiding the hover car downtown rather than away from the city since she burst free of the museum. Still, as luck would have it, Shego knew this particular city rather well from the air. Once upon a time, she had spent a lot of time crossing the skies above the city in a multi-colored jet. Those days were long gone, but she still remembered where the park was located. The park… and more importantly, the lake in the center of the park.

This time Shego had taken the time to strap in before the hover car skidded into the water at a shallow angle. The seatbelt saved her from another blow to the head. She severed the straps with a quick burst of plasma and began stroking away at a quick pace, making sure to get well away before the sinking car could drag her down along with it. The stiffness through her body and the throbbing in her head made it take rather longer than it ordinarily would have to make it to shore, but make it she did.

Stumbling up onto the grass beside the lake, Shego almost fainted. She couldn't let herself go yet, though. Someone would be coming along to investigate the crash soon, and it could be trouble to be caught in this condition. She didn't have time to wait around in a jail cell planning an escape just now, especially not in this town. Barefoot and soaking wet, she walked through the park until she found a park bench near the exit. It was here that Shego realized she couldn't go any further without rest. She sat on the bench and tried to relax enough to regain some strength.

The night was chilly, and having wet clothes and hair didn't improve matters any. Shego's teeth began chattering. Without considering the risks, she summoned up some of her plasma fire to warm herself. This was the state she was in ten minutes later, when a voice rang out from behind her.

"So you're back in town, sis. And you brought trouble with you."

Shego turned to see a large man surrounded by a blue glow. "Hego," she said.

* * *

Drakken awoke to find the masked face of a ninja inches away from his face, staring down at him. Naturally, he screamed like a little girl. "Eeeeek!"

"Calm yourself," commanded Agent Alpha, sometimes known as Masuyo Ichikawa.

"Calm myself! I'd like to see how calm you'd be, waking up with a masked man leaning over you. It's very disturbing to a person's peace of mind," said Drakken.

"I was merely attempting to find the origin of your unusual skin color," said Masuyo. He stepped back from Drakken and crossed his arms, waiting for the scientist to gather his wits.

"Yes, well that's for me to know and you to… not know," said Drakken. He began patting down his coat, a puzzled expression on his face. "Something's not right here," he said.

"If you are looking for the various devices you keep concealed about your person, I have already found and removed them," said Masuyo.

"You went through my clothing while I was sleeping? I feel so… violated," said Drakken. He shuddered.

"I assure you, I took no pleasure in-" began Masuyo.

"Violated!" interrupted Drakken. He sat up and slid off the table on which he had been resting.

Masuyo wondered if the two aspirin he had taken in preparation for this encounter were going to be enough.

Drakken took a quick look around. He was in a cramped steel-walled room with few features other than the table had had awoken on top of. There were no windows and only one door. Now that his feet were on the floor, he was aware of a faint vibration underfoot. It felt like some distant engine or engines were running, though to what purpose Drakken could only guess. He turned to Masuyo. "Where am I?"

"You are a prisoner of the Worldwide Evil Empire," said Alpha calmly.

"Oh I am, am I? You and your precious leader Gemini will regret the day you incurred the wrath of Doctor Drakken! Hey, are you listening to me?" said Drakken.

Masuyo looked up from checking his watch. "By fortunate timing, you may now present your complaints to Lord Gemini in person. Come with me," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" said Drakken, sneering.

With a quick motion of his wrist, Masuyo produced a large knife. To Drakken's eyes, it looked very sharp.

"What I mean to say is, lead the way to Gemini," said Drakken.

Masuyo waved his knife in a directing motion, indicating that Drakken should exit the room first.

"Or I'll walk ahead. Yes, that would be much better," said Drakken, who could be a fast study when sharp bladed objects were involved.

They walked out the door, which led to an undecorated and steel-walled corridor. Masuyo indicated the direction of their travel with more knife gestures.

After a few seconds of walking, Drakken tried to make conversation. "So, have you worked here long?" he said. He was answered by a not-so-gentle poke in the back with the point of the knife. It didn't cut Drakken's coat or his skin, but it felt very uncomfortable nonetheless.

Drakken muttered, "You're not very friendly," under his breath. He otherwise took the hint, though, and didn't speak again until they arrived at their destination.

It was a large wooden door with intricate inlays, looking quite out of place in the cold steel walls of the corridor. Masuyo stepped forward and knocked on it. After a moment, Gemini's voice said, "Come in."

Inside was a tastefully appointed room with shag carpeting, numerous bookshelves and cabinets, a couch, other decorations, and a large wooden desk taking up the center of the room. Behind the desk sat Gemini, who was wearing a reading monocle and studying some papers.

"Ah, Mr. Lipsky. Right on time," said Gemini.

"That's _Doctor Drakken_ to you," said Drakken. He walked up to the desk.

"I haven't been able to find any record of you having a doctorate," said Gemini, a certain trace of smugness apparent in his manner.

"Oh, I see. You think I just made it up. You think I started called myself 'doctor' without anything to back it up as part of some sad ego trip. Well, allow me to inform you that Doctor Drakken is not that pathetic," said Drakken.

"Oh?" said Gemini, who seemed mildly interested.

"It just so happens I have a doctorate in plasma physics from Omaha University Online. That's right, and a copy of my diploma can be printed from the internet in seconds, anywhere in the world, for only a small service charge. What do you think of that?" said Drakken.

"I'm sure you're very proud," said Gemini dryly. "Very well then. Provisionally granting you the title of doctor, Doctor Lipsky, allow me to explain why I've brought you here. You're going to be working for me from now on."

Drakken raised one hand in a 'stop' gesture. "Hold on. I can see where this is going. You want me to finish my invention for you, so that you can use it to conquer the world. Never! Talk to the hand, cause it's not happening," he said. After a pause, he added, "And call me Doctor Drakken!"

Gemini seemed unperturbed by Drakken's defiance. "Oh, you _will_ be working on Project Firebreak for me. But it doesn't have to end there. I've long been a great admirer of yours, Doctor Drakken."

"I'll never- You are?" said Drakken, feeling very confused.

"Yes. You have a great, if unfocused, genius. There's quite a magnificent mind inside that skull of yours. In some ways, I see us as being much alike. We're both men of vision," said Gemini. He smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Why… thank you," said Drakken, flattered. "I've always thought of myself as a man of vision. And I have excellent hearing, too."

Gemini winced slightly. "Quite. Of course, we're only alike in some ways. I've had the occasional setback, but overall I've been quite successful. You on the other hand, have suffered defeat after defeat after defeat. Isn't it time, Drakken, to admit that you just don't have what it takes to conquer the world yourself? A man must know his limitations. If you would only place yourself under my command, you could follow me to success. To victory."

"You- You don't seriously expect me to become your _henchman_, do you? I can't make that kind of step down in my career. To go from evil conqueror to lackey… It's just not done!" said Drakken.

"Don't think of it as stepping down; think of it as joining a winning team. You'll get a uniform, status, respect… I'll even make you Agent Beta, my second highest ranked agent. I have one now, but you'd be much better." Gemini got to his feet and walked around his desk, emphasizing his points with grand gestures.

He continued. "Come now, Doctor Drakken. I'll force you to work on Project Firebreak no matter what, but things could be so much easier if you cooperated voluntarily. Join me and be a winner. Insist on going it alone and die a pathetic loser. The choice is simple."

_I'm not seriously considering this,_ Drakken thought to himself. Nevertheless, he couldn't stop himself from picturing what it might be like. He imagined the respect and admiration he'd receive for his evil inventions. He imagined the extra work he could get done just having to worry about creating in a lab and not all those niggling little problems with implementation. He could be part of the team that conquered the world. Sure it wouldn't be as sweet as doing it himself, but he wasn't having a lot of success with that. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, as Mamma Lipsky always said.

_No, I'm not seriously considering this_, Drakken thought again. _I mean, I can only imagine what Shego would say if I threw in the towel on- Wait a minute, Shego!_

Drakken tapped his head. "That's a very interesting offer, Mr. Gemini. Before I answer, though, I was just wondering if I could talk it over with my sidekick, Shego. Did you capture her at the same time as me, or did she get away, or what's the situation?"

Gemini pressed the palms of his hands, both natural and artificial, together. He loudly sucked in a breath. "That might be a bit difficult. I left her trapped next to a rather large bomb, set to go off very soon after I left. I suspected she would go to pieces without you, so I thought I might as well make it literal. Besides, you won't need her to keep you out of trouble now that you have me to tell you what to do."

**One minute later**

Gemini nudged a foot against Drakken's twitching form, unconscious form. He straightened the collar of his jumpsuit from where someone had been pulling on it, then turned to speak to Agent Alpha. "Looks like we'll be doing things the hard way, then. Probably for the best. These genius types are so high maintenance."

"I will take him to the chamber of cooperation, my lord," said Agent Alpha.

* * *

Shego tilted her head back and chugged her drink in one long swallow. Once finished, she slammed her cup against the table and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Whoa sis, you should slow down a little. That's your third one," said her brother Hego. He was currently in his civilian identity as manager of the first automated Bueno Nacho in Chicago (or 'Go City,' the nickname by which it was known far and wide).

"I've had a bad night. I'll drink what I want to," snapped Shego in response.

"You know what drinking that stuff does to you," Hego said.

Shego straightened in her seat, and green plasma appeared around her free hand. "Not this again," she said.

"Now you know it's true. Diet soda makes you cranky," said Hego.

"I'm always cranky," responded Shego in a nasty tone. She slid out from the booth walked over to the drink dispenser, placing her cup underneath it. "Refill," she commanded the machine. Diet soda began filling the cup.

They were in Hego's Bueno Nacho. The hour was drawing just short of 3 am, and the place was deserted. Shego, still missing both gloves and shoes, was wearing an oversized trenchcoat that Hego had procured for her. That she was lacking any footwear was in point of fact a violation of Bueno Nacho's 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' policy, but Hego had declined to make an issue of it.

As Shego sat back down in the booth, Hego decided to get down to business. "Nat, you promised that if I took you inside and got you something to drink and didn't call the rest of the team, you'd explain what's going on. You didn't want to go to the Tower, so I used my managerial power to get you in here. Now I think you owe me an explanation," he said.

"I see you still talk in recaps, _Henry_," said Shego scornfully. "And don't call me anything but Shego. Where are Mego and the twins anyway?"

"We split up into teams. They're investigating the explosion out at the museum while I was tracking the crashed air vehicle that came from the direction of the museum. Your vehicle," said Hego.

Shego looked like she was trying to puzzle something out. "Wait, you said you split up into teams, but you're the only one on this mission. So how can one person be a team?" said Shego.

"Super strength is the best power, so I'm a one-man team. We're getting off-topic here. You're supposed to be telling me things," said Hego.

"Fine. Drakken and I got into a dispute with this villain-type named Gemini. We tracked him back to what we thought was his lair at the museum, but it turned out he was laying a trap for us. He kidnapped Drakken, and tried to blow me up with a bomb, but I escaped just in time. There, recap enough for you?" said Shego.

"I knew it," said Hego.

"Knew what?" asked Shego suspiciously.

"I knew that deep down you're not so bad. Fighting with a villain, tracking him down to his lair, avoiding death traps along the way…. You're still-"

"Put a sock in it," interrupted Shego. "I know it sounds bad- I mean, good. Just trust me, I was doing bad things because I'm evil, even if it seems like I'm doing good. I had perfectly good evil reasons for going after that guy." Shego had the unpleasant feeling she had just said something rather silly.

"Whatever you say, Shego. Don't worry, though, Team Go will be there to help you fight this villain and get back your kidnapped friend," said Hego.

Shego considered Hego's proposal. She didn't have to consider long. "Going to have to pass on that offer," she said.

"What! Give me one good reason why not," protested Hego.

"Because getting back Drakken is going to take smarts and sneaking, and you can't manage either. And as superheroes, you guys?" Shego's voice dropped to a stage whisper. "Not making the grade." A traitorous part of her mind added, _Which given how dangerous Gemini is means you'd only be good as cannon fodder, and I'm not quite ruthless enough to use my brothers for that._ She squashed the errant qualm immediately.

"Team Go is a little rusty since we came out of retirement, it's true, but I don't know if we can let you go off and do this on your own," said Hego.

Shego's face colored in outrage. "Newsflash, it's not your call. I'm not on your team, and I don't report to you. I think it's time for me to get out of here," said Shego. She slid out of the booth, taking her cup of diet soda with her.

"You can't go like this! Do you even have any money to buy a plane ticket out of the city?" said Hego.

Shego turned her back to her brother, but didn't walk away any further. Her credit and bank cards had been fried by Gemini's blast, and she didn't have enough cash to even buy a grande sized taco meal. Not that she would let something like that slow her down. "I'll find a ride," said Shego.

"You mean steal a ride," said Hego harshly.

Shego turned back towards her brother, surprised by his unexpected perceptiveness. She shrugged in response.

"I can't allow that…. I'll take you wherever you need to go in the Go Team jet," said Hego.

Shego rolled her eyes. "I suppose that would be faster," she grudgingly admitted. "But just you. I can't take dealing with the rest of the team right now."

"Then it's settled. On one condition," said Hego.

"Oh, here it comes. What do you want?" said Shego.

"Tell me why you quit Team Go and became a villain," responded her brother.

"I just didn't want to put up with your bossiness," snapped Shego.

Hego gripped the edge of the table in front of him. A blue glow surrounded his hands as the table creaked and groaned under the pressure. "You're not putting me off with that stupid story again! You can call me bossy, but since when was I ever able to make you do something you didn't want to do? This is a talk we're long overdue to have, Nat. You managed to duck out pretty quickly after that business with Aviarius. You know, right after you tried to steal our powers. I forgive you because you're my sister, but you owe me some answers."

Shego looked at her brother for a long moment and saw the tension in his face. She shook her head in apparent exasperation, more for show than anything else, and sat back down in the booth across from Hego. "All right, if it's that important to you, fine. No promises about you liking the answer, though."

The blue glow ceased and Hego released his grip on the table and relaxed in his seat. Marks were left where he fingers had cracked the table.

After taking a deep breath, Shego began to speak. "I hadn't been too happy for a while, spending all my time hanging out with my brothers. Maybe I didn't hate you, exactly, but you get on my nerves, all of you. And guess what; Team Go had pretty much become our lives at that point. We slept most nights in the Tower; sometimes I'd go a week without changing back into my civvies once. So yeah, sick of it.

"That's where my head was. Now the villains we fought, they seemed to be having a lot of fun. Sure we'd stop them in the end, but until then they were living it up. They were doing big things, too. Team Go spent all our time trying to keep things the same. The bad guys, though, they had big plans. Crazy, stupid, hopeless plans, but they all had something they wanted to do and an idea how to do it. I started to- Admire? No, not admire, envy. I started to envy them, partly because they were having a good time, but mostly because they knew what they wanted and they went after it. Then one day, I started to think to myself, 'I could do what these saps do, but I could do it better.'"

Shego took a sip from her diet soda. She had Hego's full attention.

"It was about then that the offer came to train in Japan. I knew that I if was going to make it big, I'd need more skills than I could learn fighting with Team Go. Besides, it made a good excuse to get away from you guys. So I went. I learned a lot about being sneaky and a lot about fighting. After a year, I figured it was time to go out on my own. I sent word to you that I wasn't coming back, and that was it. It was easy. I didn't even have to face you," she said.

A police siren began blaring somewhere a few blocks away. Shego paused, and she and her brother listened to the sound rise and fall until it faded in the distance.

Hego broke the sudden silence. "Something I've been wondering for a while now, sis. Why do you keep going by the name 'Shego', if you hate Team Go so much? Why not just be Natalie Gallant?"

Shego laughed. "Shego. Sheeee-go. She-gooo," she mumbled to herself, deliberately mangling the pronunciation in one way after another. "It's a stupid name. They're all stupid names. Shego, Hego, Mego, Wego... How did we come up with that again?" As she spoke, she traced one of her fingertips over the table.

Her brother rubbed his chin, trying to recall. "I remember that the first time we caught a crook, I shouted 'Go, team, go,' you know, just trying to be encouraging because the twins were so young. Somebody heard me and misunderstood and the next thing you know, the newspapers are calling us Team Go. I don't remember who came up with the names, though. I think we were just young and they sounded interesting and different. I hated being called Henry back then. I thought it was an old man's name."

"I remember," said Shego, still tracing her finger along the table top.

"But that still doesn't- Hey!" said Hego. He had just spotted the message that Shego had burned into the table using the tip of her finger and a touch of plasma flame. It read in clear block letters, 'Natalie was here.'

Shego sneered at him. "You're the one who ripped up the edge of the table with your little temper tantrum. You would have had to replace it anyway, so no complaining."

"I was asking you why you still went by 'Shego' instead of your real name. And why you still wear the Team Go uniform, for that matter. You keep saying how stupid I am for thinking you'd ever come back to the team, and but you're the one still going around in your team name and team uniform. What was I supposed to think?"

Shego shrugged, which was as close as she would come to admitting that her brother might have a point. "For one thing, I had gotten used to being Shego. Remember I was talking about how we were spending all our time as Team Go before I left for Japan? There was hardly anybody left who knew me as Nat. Then the whole time I studied at Yamanuchi, I studied as Shego. That's how I was invited and that's who came. I never told them my real name. Maybe they know it, but it's not because I gave it away. Trust me; you never want to give a ninja any kind of advantage. We got no scruples about going for the low blow."

"And the fact that by protecting your own identity you protected the secret identities of the rest of us was purely a coincidence, right sis?" said Hego.

"When you're smug like that, it really makes me want to punch you, 'bro'. I know how to punch so it hurts bad, too. Learned it in ninja school. Now you want to let me finish?" said Shego.

Hego nodded in response.

"Anyway, you need an interesting name to really make it in the villain business. Something people will remember. I didn't think telling people I was 'Nat Gallant' and running around in a sweatshirt and cargo pants was going to pull it off. Now, I'm a big girl, I can admit that time's proven me wrong on that point. This was a few years ago, though, and I didn't have the big 'Kim Possible' example in front of me. I still can't believe she makes that work," said Shego. She paused to scowl to herself at mentioning Kim's name.

"I always intended to come up with a new name and costume. Being 'Shego' was supposed to be just temporary until I could come up with a really great new villain concept to build my reputation around. Every time I tried, though, I just couldn't come up with anything good, and I kept putting it off, and what reputation I had built up was built up as Shego." As she finished speaking, Shego paused to lower her gaze to the table and rub her forehead.

Suddenly she looked up and asked, "Hego, do you think I'm creative?"

"Well, you, you know, you're not… not uncreative," said Hego carefully.

Shego began speaking more rapidly. "Let me finish up this story. The problems with a new name were only the beginning. There I was, young and ready to take on the world. I had ninja skills, superpowers, and I'd cut you losers lose. Nothing could stop me, and I was ready to go out and take what I wanted from the world. And… and I couldn't do it."

"Because there _is_ still good in you," said Hego triumphantly.

"No, you idiot. Because I couldn't come up with a good plan! Or any plan, for that matter. I started with big dreams. I figured I'd set in motion a plan to take over the world. Three days later, I was still staring at a blank sheet of paper, trying to figure out step one. So I'm thinking, well, maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself, going for the brass ring on my first try.

"Instead I'll seek raw power, right? Something to make me mighty and unstoppable. And it's not like I don't have any leads. At school, I'd heard about this mystical monkey power, and then there were a few things from our hero days that might have fit the bill. It's the same deal, though. Every time I try to sit down and plan for something specific, I just freeze up. No ideas. In the end, the best I could come up with was to go rob banks. Robbing banks! Petty stuff like that wasn't what I went into evil for.

"Eventually I decided I just needed a little seasoning. I'd come up with my own plans after I got a chance to see how it was done from the bad guy side. So I started hiring myself out as a sidekick. I did a lot of jobs and I started to build a rep, but every night I still had to face facts that I wasn't getting any closer to being able to hit it on my own. The plans and schemes just weren't coming. I was even considering giving up.

"Then I got hired by Doctor Drakken. Drakken's got more ideas than anyone I ever met. He's got more creativity in his little finger than I- Well, let's just say that I was impressed. On that side of things, he's everything I always wanted to be. Of course, he's an idiot as much as he's a genius. I used to think he was faking, that it was all some kind of put-on. How could somebody so smart be so dumb about other things? But then I got to kind of like it. He needs me to keep him out of trouble and help make his plans work as much as they do. I don't like losing all the time, but it's like the bad guys I was envying back when I was a kid. I get to have fun every time before the plan falls apart. Being Drakken's sidekick, it's almost like they're my plans too," said Shego.

She bowed her head to look at the table again. "I guess Gemini was right. I do need Drakken. I hate him sometimes, but without him what am I going to do? Go back to being a muscle for hire? Rob banks?" She lapsed back into silence.

It took some time, but Hego finally managed to process everything his sister had told him. He spoke. "Shego, maybe the reason you're not getting any villainous inspiration is because you're just not cut out for-"

Shego's glare-o- death stopped him in mid-sentence. He shrugged. "Sis, I don't know what to say to all this. You kept up your end of the bargain, though, so I'll keep mine. Let's get going."

They both stood and walked to the door. Shego paused before opening it. "Hey Hego, any word on our parents?"

"Nothing," replied Hego.

"Just thought I'd ask."

* * *

"Doctor Drakken is busy with an important project. He won't be back for a while."

That was what Shego told the henchmen when she got back to the Caribbean lair. Lying to them was easy, but unfortunately she still had to deal with the truth. If Shego wanted Drakken back, and she had to admit at least to herself that she needed him back, then she'd have to come up with a plan.

A plan. Yes, that was the problem right there. It was pick a new codename and take over the world all over again.

Shego searched for inspiration. She did Yoga. She sang Drakken's favorite karaoke songs. She studied all available information on Gemini and thought about it while standing on her head. She even tried applying her extremely limited engineering talents to working on some of Drakken's machinery, something she had always observed as making him especially creative. The resulting electrical shock left her cranky rather than creative, with the corresponding result that Drakken wouldn't have much of a laboratory to come home to.

A day later and beginning to come up empty even on ideas to get ideas, Shego was glad to be interrupted by a phone call. It was a mark of her desperation that she was glad even after the caller ID showed the caller to be Malcom, Drakken's lawyer, technology broker, and perpetual annoyance to Shego.

"This is Shego, what's up?"

"Ms. Shego. Sorry to bother you, but the matter is quite urgent and Drew isn't returning my messages," said Malcom's voice over the phone line.

"He's busy. Incommunicado. Won't be responding for a while," said Shego, not without a certain pleasure at denying Malcom.

"I see. Well, it's this Joel Kord business. Last time we spoke, I told you it had gone to a class action lawsuit. Now I'm afraid matters have gotten more serious. The IRS has become involved. Apparently news of the case drew their attention and, well, although I've paid Mr. Kord's taxes in full ever since we created the persona, obviously there are going to be no tax records from before we made him up. I'm afraid actors and extra lawyers aren't going to cut it at this point. Do you have any ideas, Ms. Shego?"

Shego's right eye twitched. "No! No, I do not have any ideas. Figure something out. I am idea-less. There are no ideas to be had. Understand?"

"Quite," said Malcom in his usual dry tone.

"What do you do when you need to come up with a new idea, Malcom?" asked Shego, her voiced laced heavily with bitterness.

"I'm a lawyer, Shego. Ninety-nine percent of the time, we don't have to fall back on new ideas. We go for precedent instead," said Malcom.

"Precedent?" asked Shego.

"Yes. I look for a previous case that's on point for the law, similar to whatever situation I'm dealing with, and of course, in my favor. Then I bring that to court. Much easier than trying to convince a judge to break ground on new law," said Malcom.

"Find someone else in a similar situation and see how they solve the problem," Shego whispered to herself. It was so crazy, it just might work. "Thanks Malcom, I think I'm going to use your precedent with precedents as my precedent."

"Good, I suppose. But what about the Kord court case," asked Malcom.

"I'll have Drakken call you about that real soon," promised Shego. Then she hung up.

The more she thought about the idea Malcom had just given to her, the more she liked it. It appealed to her sensibilities as a thief. A good thief never bought or created when she could steal instead, after all.

* * *

The video game store clerk winced when he saw a blond-haired teenager push open the glass doors and enter the store.

"Phil my man. How's it hanging?" said Ron to the clerk, as he ambled cheerfully up to the counter.

"I don't have Werewolf Rampage 2, Ron," said Phil.

"Hey, hey, hey! Major injustice here. Why can't I just be stopping by to take a look at what you have in stock and say hello to my favorite video game store clerk?" protested Ron.

"Well, there's the fact that you e-mailed me about Werewolf Rampage 2. And you phoned to ask about it. And you've been hiding outside the store, asking all my customers if I sold them Werewolf Rampage 2, even though I told you I didn't have it," said Phil.

"The official release date did say it went on sale today," said Ron.

"And something went wrong and it didn't make it out on time. It happens, Ron," said Phil.

"Maybe. Or maybe you only have a few, special, secret copies to sell, so you're saving them for your most special customers. Just saying that's a rumor I've heard, not implying anything," said Ron.

"Read my lips, Ron, I do not have the game. Now is there something else I can help you with?" answered Phil, struggling to keep the testiness out of his voice.

"All right, hey, I understand. You don't have it. I'll come back another day," said Ron. He turned and walked back to the door. Before he left, however, he paused to add, "I guess I just don't rank as high on your customer list as I thought."

Phil sighed and buried his face in his hand. For a moment after the door swung shut behind Ron, all was quiet. Then there came a scream from outside, in what sounded like Ron's voice.

Startled, Phil perked up and started to run around the counter to see what was the matter. Rounding the corner, however, he tripped over an unopened box of games and ended up sprawled out on the floor. By the time he got to his feet and made it outside, everything was over.

Phil found two things when he exited the store. The first was an unconscious naked mole rat, lying next to the store window.

The second was a message melted into the pavement of the sidewalk by fiery plasma. It read, 'FIND US IF YOU CAN, KIM POSSIBLE. –SHEGO.'

Ron Stoppable was nowhere to be found.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Okay, this was one of the chapters I've been waiting to write ever since I started this fic. This is where I finally lay out my interpretation of what Shego's deal is, why she hangs with Drakken, and what her secret weakness is. I do think it's an interpretation supported by the series. I haven't yet seen every episode, but there's less than 10 I haven't seen. And in no episode, at no time, can I ever find an instance of Shego coming up with an idea or plan of her own. Oh, she's great at criticizing plans. She can even identify if Drakken needs a new plan and when the current plan is FUBAR. But having identified that need, she doesn't then come up with a plan for herself. (At least, not more complicated than 'run away'.)

There's this great scene in 'Two to Tutor' when Junior has completed his training and it's time for his graduation exercise. Shego is supposed to pick a target, and she just starts standing there hemming and hawing, and she can't come up with anything. She's trying so hard, but she can't do it, and it's left up to Junior to come up with a target.

Okay, but what about 'A Sitch in Time'. Doesn't that prove Shego's villainous potential? Well, the thing is that Shego never actually comes up with the plan to use the Tempus Simian to take over the world. Her future self appears in a time loop and gives her the basic outline of the whole plan. All Shego has to do is implement it. Shego never actually thinks the thing up independently, it's always coming from her future self, who in turn got it from herself when she was young Shego. And even in the evil future, Shego isn't showing a heck of a lot of creativity.

That's my take, anyway.

Now, I try not to be one of those authors who begs for reviews, but I'd really like to ask that people reading take the time to comment this time around. I write really long chapters rather than a bunch of little chapters, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle. And I really, really want to know what people think of this chapter. This was an important chapter to me. I know there's at least a couple of dozen people reading this fic from the stats, so how about dropping a review if you haven't done so the last couple of chapters? What did you think of the Shego reveals?

Other stuff. I really sweated over Shego's name. I thought about going for the S-names, but that seems a little played, and there's really no reason that her superhero name should be too similar to her normal name. 'Peter Parker' doesn't sound much like 'Spider-man'. So instead I went for a 'sounds like it means something' name. She's from the Gallant family, which sounds like the sort of family name a bunch of superheroes should have. Shego, however, is Natalie 'Nat' Gallant. Nat Gallant. "Not Gallant". Get it? Heh.

Also, the Disney website says that Go City is really Chicago, so I thought I'd run with it. Shego seems like a Chicago girl anyway. There's no "Go Mountain" near Chicago, but I figure a supervillain dropped it there.

Drakken only got one scene this chapter, but I hope it continued to shed a little light on him. Was he giving consideration to Gemini's offer? Well, perhaps it tempted him a little. Hero, villain, mastermind, lackey, Drakken just wants to be a winner. But on his terms.

Only one action sequence this chapter, but I tried to make it a doozy! Hope you enjoyed Shego being really forced to sweat and dig deep to survive.

Not as many jokes this chapter, I know. Had to spend most of the space on Shego exposition.

Did you like the cliffhanger? Next chapter, Shego and Ron as captor and captive. Comedy Gold!

Thanks to Matri, GargoyleSama, Eva91, Jezrianna2.0, and Blackfire 18 for your comments on the previous chapter. 'cl', thanks for the comment you dropped on my opening chapter.

Jez and GargoyleSama, I hope you found the explanation of Shego's motivations to be satisfying. Sometimes those who can't may find some satisfaction in just hanging close to those who can.

Longest chapter yet!


	8. CaptorSlashCaptive Relationship

_Note: This story takes place towards the end of the third season of 'Kim Possible' but before the movie, 'So the Drama'. Sorry if that wasn't clear before_.

* * *

"Guess," said Shego. She wasn't really looking at Ron. Instead her attention seemed occupied by the paddle in her hand. A ball was connected to the paddle by an elastic string, and she was energetically bouncing the bouncing the ball against the paddle.

"Why can't you just tell me why you kidnapped me? What's the secret?" asked Ron. He was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, wrapped securely in many layers of thick rope.

Shego continued to bounce the paddle ball without answering.

Ron considered the matter. "Okay, let's start with the obvious. You're luring Kim into a trap."

"Nope," said Shego.

"Then there's something I know that you want to know; I just don't know that I know," said Ron. Seeing that Shego wasn't paying attention, he tried to subtly flex his muscles to see if he could loosen the ropes, but it didn't seem to be having any effect.

"No," replied Shego. _Maybe I should gag him_, she thought to herself.

"Wait, is that 'no' as in the opposite of yes, or 'know' as in-"

"As in you're wrong!" snapped Shego. She finally deigned to look at Ron, though she didn't lose her place in the paddle volleying. Her angry face didn't seem to faze him, though.

There was a minute of silence as Ron screwed up his face in concentration. Finally he said, "This time I've got it. You've replaced me with a robotic Ron duplicate to sabotage Kim secretly. Dr. Drakken is busy controlling the robot remotely, which is why I haven't seen him around. That's got to be it!" he said.

Shego slowly nodded her head in the affirmative. "That's pretty clever," she said.

"You mean I got it?" said Ron, trying not to sound surprised.

"Oh, not even close. But I will mention it to Dr. Drakken. We should try that sometime, definitely," said Shego.

"Awww. I give up; I'm stumped," said Ron.

Drakken's voice emanated from the ceiling. "Oooh, this seems fun. Can I try a guess?"

"Doctor Drakken!" said Ron in surprise, looking upwards. He thought Drakken's voice had come from a small speaker set in one corner.

"That is _not_ Doctor Drakken," said Shego, sounding very annoyed. She dropped her paddle and grabbed a broom from the corner. She then proceeded to bang the broom handle against the speaker. "I told you to be quiet!" she shouted.

"Shego, banging the speaker doesn't actually hurt me, you know," said Drakken's voice, sounding almost apologetic.

"Feeling very confused right now. Someone want to explain?" complained Ron.

"That thing is the artificially intelligent computer that was designed to run this lair," said Shego.

Ron considered briefly. "Kind of cool," he said.

"Did I mention that the computer is murderously insane?" asked Shego.

"I am not. I'm the victim of a series of unfortunate misunderstandings and mistakes," said the computer.

"Suuuure," sneered Shego. She further explained to Ron. "Drakken's idea was that it was going to be the lair of the future. Security and maintenance taken care of by a central AI system and its army of robots. Whole idea pretty much fell apart when the computer tried to kill us in our sleep, then tried again by turning off the internal heaters and opening all the doors and vents to let a mountain blizzard inside."

"Merely a malfunction in my climate control software," said the computer.

Shego ignored it. "Long story short, I smashed the robots and Drakken cut off its control over anything but a few internal security monitors and speakers. Me, I wanted to go ahead and smash the computer, but mister genius thinks he's going to come back some day and work out all the bugs, so I have to leave it online and annoying," she said.

"My creator still has faith in me," said the computer.

"Why does it talk with Drakken's voice?" asked Ron.

"Because Drakken has a big ego," said Shego. In a more musing tone she added, "Of course, since this thing went haywire he hasn't given his voice to anything else he's built. Usually he just brushes stuff like this off, but I guess he was really disappointed."

"When did all this happen?" asked Ron.

"Oh, a while ago. Just before I stole the design for that robot tick, and we ran into you and Kimmie for the first time," said Shego. She hadn't meant to start answering the sidekick's questions, but she felt an odd obligation to explain the computer that sounded so much like Drakken.

"That long? No wonder this place is such a mess," said Ron.

They were in a large open room stacked with benches, chairs, and a lab table at one end. It looked as though it might have been meant as a lecture hall, or perhaps a laboratory where most of the heavy equipment hadn't yet been brought in. There was a layer of dust everywhere, as well as a few tangled nests of torn up paper suggesting that some animals had gotten inside and made their nest. In one corner were stacked several boxes and bundles that were obvious recent arrivals. Presumably, they were the supplies that Shego had laid in for her and Ron's stay, however long that would be. No one had yet bothered to unpack them.

"I agree, conditions in this lair are quite unacceptable. Without my maintenance robots to keep the place and tidy, it's become filthy. If you could only see your way clear to hooking me up to some new robots, Shego, I could have it taken care of in a jiffy," said the computer.

"Not likely," said Shego.

"Well obviously somebody needs to do some cleaning around here. The computer can't do it, and I can't do it, so…." said Ron, trailing off and looking at Shego expectantly.

Shego gave Ron a considered look in return.

**Five Minutes Later**

"This is _so_ not what I meant!" complained Ron, pushing the broom back and forth.

"What, you'd rather be tied up?" replied Shego. She was examining the chair to which Ron had been tied, now clear of ropes. After a moment, she took a small cloth and wiped off the seat, then sat down.

Ron thought about the choice for a moment. "No," he finally answered reluctantly. "That doesn't mean it's okay for you to make me clean, though. It demeans our captor-slash-captive relationship! Besides, I'm still sore from that energy thingie you knocked me out with when you grabbed me. Totally unnecessary."

"I told you, that was to destroy any devices or chips or whatever that Wade might have given you," said Shego. _ Or at least it did if I read Drakken's hand-writing correctly. I had to spend an hour digging through his invention closet to find that thing_, thought Shego to herself.

"You never did that any of the other times you captured Kim and me," protested Ron. He gave a particularly energetic sweep of the broom, raising a small dust cloud.

The dust made Shego sneeze, and she took the excuse to just shrug her shoulders in response to Ron's implied question. _I wasn't following Gemini's example the other times_, she thought to herself.

"And are you sure Rufus is going to be all right? The little guy's a lot smaller than me, so it was a bigger shock to him," said Ron, sounding concerned.

"What? Yeah, he'll be fine," said Shego in what wasn't a particularly reassuring tone of voice.

"Who is Rufus?" asked the computer. Hearing Drakken's voice taking a tone of polite interest was something of a surreal experience for both Shego and Ron. 'Polite interest' wasn't something they heard from the real Drakken very often.

"Just the bondiggiedest pet naked molerat anyone ever had," said Ron.

"You attacked his pet? For shame, Shego, for shame," chided the computer.

"I'm starting to like this guy," said Ron. He gave a big thumbs up towards the speaker from which the computer's voice emanated.

Shego got to her feet. "I am a very patient and understanding woman. Well… no I'm not. Which means I'm not going to sit here and be lectured by either a crazy computer whose programming was put together from a hacked copy of Windows 98 or by…" She shook her head and waved her hand towards Ron, evidently unable to come up with a suitably biting description of him.

"By a blonde buffoon?" suggested Ron helpfully.

"I need some release. I'm going to go to the hanger bay and get something. You keep cleaning. I expect some progress by the time I get back, or you're getting tied up again," said Shego to Ron. Looking much-put-upon, Shego exited the room.

After a suitable delay to allow Shego to get out of earshot, the computer spoke up. "You know, Ron, I like you too. If you let me, I can help you escape."

Ron rubbed his chin in consideration.

* * *

"Magnificent, isn't it, Doctor?" said Gemini. He gestured with his mechanical hand towards the vast hanger bay that lay below them. Over a hundred jumpsuited agents wandered about on the floor below, maintaining various shuttlecraft and other air vehicles, as well as weapon platforms and other devices whose purpose was less immediately apparent. Several of the workers spotted Gemini pointing his hand in their general direction and immediately began speeding up their work efforts.

"It's impressive," admitted Drakken reluctantly. With one hand he gripped the safety rail of the catwalk they were standing on. With the other he tugged on the thick metal collar encircling his neck. "But why so many airships?"

"It's quite simple. You see-" began Gemini.

"No wait, I can get this one," interrupted Drakken. He ignored Gemini's annoyed look at being interrupted. "Now let me see. Lots of planes and hover vehicles… engine vibrations throughout the building… emergency parachutes lining the walls… This is some sort of flying fortress, isn't it?"

Gemini made an about-face and thumbed a remote control. A section of the wall behind them irised open, revealing a large observation chamber with the far wall made completely of glass. He stepped inside, gesturing for Drakken to follow. Through the glass a an expanse of slowly moving clouds were visible below, confirming Drakken's guess.

"You're quite correct, Dr. Lispky," said Gemini. He muttered under his breath. "I think the parachutes were a bit of giveaway, though."

Drakken strode up to the glass and peered out, trying to make out the ground through the clouds. "I can see the benefits. So often when I'm trying to make ransom demands, the world just seems to ignore me when I communicate to them by phone or video. Now with an aerial fortress, you can just park it right over your target city and broadcast directly to them through loudspeakers. There's no ignoring that!" said Drakken.

Gemini tossed his remote control up in the air and then caught it again while he considered Drakken's idea. "No, not a good idea," he said finally. Pressing yet another button, Gemini made Drakken's collar send a jolt of electricity through the scientist, causing Drakken to collapse to his knees and gasp in pain.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Drakken.

"The real reason for this headquarters is to avoid my sister. Her agents are constantly scouring the world for myself and the soldiers of WWEE. Only by staying in continual motion behind a cloaking field can we avoid discovery," said Gemini.

"Your sister is Dr. Director, leader of that infernal Global Justice Network, isn't she? Oh, they've buttered my biscuits before. Kim Possible has them come in and take me away after she's beaten me. It must be easier for you, though. A little sibling cooperation; a little wink-I-don't-see to your operations. I wish I had a highly placed relative like that," said Drakken.

"Fool!" Enraged, Gemini grabbed Drakken by the collar and physically lifted the mad scientist off his feet. He gave Drakken a good shake, then tossed him to the floor. "She's my archenemy! We show each other no mercy. My goal in life is to destroy and humiliate her. Do you understand?"

"Ow!" muttered Drakken. He held his hands out in a placating gesture. "Understood, understood," he said in a submissive tone.

"You have your own archenemy, don't you? That Kim Possible girl. She aided my _dear_ sister in defeating me once. Quite the annoyance. If you convinced me that you were being more cooperative, I might allow you to see to her destruction when I unleash chaos upon the world. Isn't that a suitable incentive to work a bit harder?" said Gemini.

Drakken thought about this for a moment. Was that an incentive? Would he be satisfied with Gemini conquering the world if only Kim Possible could be killed in the process? No, not a bit. Kim's constant interference in Drakken's plans were very frustrating, and he had even been driven to launch a preemptive strike against her a time or two, hoping that putting Team Possible out of business would finally allow him to succeed. Despite that, or maybe because of it, Drakken couldn't allow himself to hate her. If he did, then Kim Possible would have truly beaten him. It would mean that his life revolved around Kim and taking revenge on her. It would mean that she truly was 'all that' and that Drakken… was not.

Destroying Kim Possible and then failing to take over the world would be no victory at all. That obviously wasn't the answer that Gemini wanted to hear, though, so Drakken forced a weak smile and said, "Of course… of course. I'm ready and eager to go and you don't need to shock me with the collar any more, thanks."

Gemini shook his head, unconvinced. "I had hoped that a short walk and talk might improve your attitude, Dr. Lipsky. Your work is proceeding far too slowly. Ah well, we can always fall back on_ sterner_ measures. Alpha!"

Although Drakken would have sworn there was no one else in the room, the ninja nevertheless immediately materialized out of the shadows. "Yes my lord?" said Agent Alpha.

"Return the insufficiently evil doctor here to his laboratory and set a _harsh_ work schedule, will you?" said Gemini. He tossed to remote containing the controls for Drakken's shock collar to Alpha, who snatched it neatly out of the air.

"Of course my lord," said Agent Alpha.

* * *

"Yes, up ahead Mr. Stoppable. Quickly now, before Shego realizes you're gone," urged the computer.

"All right! Escaping from Shego all on my own earns me big time hero points. I'll be all like, 'No need for rescue, Kim. The Ron man can handle it himself.' Boo-yah," said Ron cheerfully.

Despite Shego's dark words about the computer, it hadn't taken much thought for Ron to accept its offer to help him in escaping. If the computer was against Drakken and Shego, that must mean it was on Ron's side, right? Even if it did mean him harm, what could it do?

Round a corner, Ron skidded to a halt at what appeared to be a dead end. "Uh, did I take a wrong turn somewhere?" he asked.

The computer's voice sounded from back around the corner. "I'm afraid I don't have a sensor there, Mr. Stoppable, but according to my facility maps, there should be a garbage chute up ahead."

Upon closer examination, there was indeed a hatch labeled 'Trash'. It was hinged on top so that it could be pushed forward, with the weight of the hatch forcing it back into place after the pressure was taken away. A rubber seal around both the hatch and the wall frame sealed out any weather that might have been outside.

Ron examined the hatch, and then he walked back around the corner and located the computer's nearest camera/listening system. He waved his index finger at it, a severe expression on his face. "You want me to jump down the garbage? I really like this shirt, computer. I mean, I have five more just like it, but this one is the best!"

"The garbage chute is the most direct route of the building and the one Shego is least likely to check first. Don't worry, this facility hasn't been used in years, so you won't encounter any fresh trash. Once outside, you can make your way to freedom," said the computer evenly.

Ron chewed on his thumbnail and thought. "Okay, I guess that makes sense. Thanks for your help, computer. For something created by an evil scientist, you're all right!" said Ron.

Walking back around the corner, Ron began pushing push against the garbage hatch. It was hard going and for a few seconds he couldn't move it at all. Finally the hatch slipped forward an inch with a small jerk. Ron released the pressure, but the hatch failed to move back. He realized that accumulated rust and grime on the hinges and chute was making the hatch stick.

Ron took a step back and rolled up his sleeves. Then he tried again, putting more effort into it. Slowly the hatch crept further and further open, though still not quite far enough for Ron to squeeze through. Looking through the crack, Ron could see daylight after the chute dropped another five feet or so. He reminded himself to be prepared for a fall at the end, figuring the chute probably emptied into one of those big blue trash bins that businesses used.

Placing one foot on the edge of the opening to brace himself, Ron put his shoulder into one last push. There was a sudden jerk as the hatch opened another foot and a half, and Ron found himself falling forward. As he barreled towards the end of the chute, a tug from his leg slowed him as the cuff of his pants got caught on a protruding bolt, and there was the sickeningly familiar feeling of his pants being pulled off. Ron had just enough time for a disgusted thought of, _Not again_, when the end of the chute opened below him

There was a fall at the end, all right, but it wasn't a few feet into a trash bin. Instead a vast valley of rock and snow stretched out below Ron. At a quick estimate, it looked something like a thousand foot drop to the wicked-looking rocks peeking out of the snow banks far below. Screaming in terror, he braced his hands and feet against the sides of the chute, trying to arrest his fall before he tumbled out into the void. Luckily, losing his pants had slowed him just enough that this was possible. Ron came to a slow stop with just his head sticking out of the end of the chute. A cold mountain breeze rushed across his face, but the shuddering in his body was more from terror than the temperature.

Looking up, Ron saw what could only be the lair he had just left, perched on a mountaintop directly above. No other signs of civilization were visible in any direction he could see. Very, very carefully, Ron began climbing back up the garbage chute, pushing tightly against the sides to keep from falling. Fortunately, the hatch remained jammed open on its rusty hinges, making it easy for Ron to climb back inside the relative safety of the lair once he reached the top.

Once inside, Ron easily retrieved his pants and put them back on. Then he took several deep breaths, allowing himself a moment to calm down. Finally, he walked back around the corner of the corridor and confronted the computer's sensor. "You tried to kill me!" accused Ron.

"I did not," denied the computer pleasantly.

"You told me to go out a trash chute that opened into a 1000 foot drop. What would you call that if not trying to kill me?" said Ron.

"There must have been some error in my internal maps. My apologies. If you'd like to try again, I'm sure I could find another exit for you," said the computer.

"You know what? No. No, no, nadda, no thanks, not happening. I'm just going to go back and be a prisoner until Kim shows up to rescue me. Yeah, I think that would be best," said Ron. Hitching his pants up with a tug, he threaded his way through the corridors back to the room he had started from.

Shego was inside, fiddling with the controls on a large robot. She looked up and scowled at Ron. "Bathroom break's over. Back to work," she said.

"Bathroom break?" asked Ron, walking inside and picking up his abandoned broom.

"That's where the computer said you had gone. Right?" asked Shego, her eyes narrowing a bit in suspicion.

"Oh, right. Bathroom break. Yeah, just had to open the pants and drain the old-"

"Not needing the details!" interrupted Shego.

Ron cautiously swept his broom back and forth. "But weren't you worried I'd try to escape?" he asked.

"Where are you going to go? We're in the middle of the Himalayas, I have the keys to all the vehicles, and I bet you don't know how to fly any of them anyway. You're stuck here until Kimmie comes to rescue you," said Shego. As she spoke, she closed the access panel on her personal combat training robot.

"All right, step back and make room, Stoppable. I'm going to warm up a little before pumpkin gets here and we have the main event," said Shego. She smoothly flowed into action, fighting against the training robot.

_Shego wants Kim to come rescue me_, realized Ron. _If Shego wants something, it must be bad; so that means I don't want to wait to be rescued. But she's right, I can't just run out into the mountains without any vehicle or idea where I'm going. I don't know what to do. I wish Rufus were here._

As Ron kept up the bare minimum of cleaning necessary to satisfy Shego, his eyes fell on the pile of unpacked supplies. _Maybe there's something in there I could use, like a radio or spare keys or something_, he thought. It didn't seem like a very good bet, but Shego was occupied at the moment, and he couldn't think of anything better to do.

Opening up one of the chests, Ron found inside a nice collection of cheeses, breads, and other sandwich condiments. Nestled in one corner were two bottles of soda. Evidently Shego didn't plan on starving while she was here. On a hunch, he opened the cooler next to the chest and found a frozen chicken, a haunch of roast beef, and other foods that required cooling. Ron's mouth watered, and he suddenly realized he had undoubtedly missed dinner by this point. Still, food wasn't going to help him escape. Reluctantly Ron closed the cooler and turned to the other piled items.

One of the other chests was marked, 'Shego: Keep Out!'. Not only that, but it had a small padlock on it, which Ron found very promising. If Shego wanted to keep him out, then he wanted to not be kept out. Despite not actually knowing how to pick locks, Ron crouched down to fiddle with it, hoping inspiration would strike. To his surprise, the small padlock popped open easily after a few experimental tugs, as if the locking mechanism had been damaged somehow. Moving quickly, Ron opened the trunk and found….

Shego blocked the robot's punch with her left hand, releasing a small amount of concussive plasma to increase the force of her block. Simultaneously, she used the opening created to land a hard kick with her right foot. Shego had been working especially hard on her kicks lately because-

The sight of Ronald Stoppable crouched over her special training trunk interrupted Shego's train of thought. It also shocked her enough that she left herself wide open for a punch from the training robot, knocking her off her feet and into a nearby wall.

"Get away from there!" Shego shouted, staggering to her feet. Without wasting a motion, she hit the 'off' button on the robot and stalked over to the trunk.

Ron backed cautiously away from her. In his hands he was holding a latex mask of Kim Possible's face. Shego restrained herself from ripping it out of her hands. Instead she bent down to look at the trunk. "This was locked. How did you get it open?" she asked.

"I don't know, it just opened when I poked at it," said Ron.

Shego suddenly recalled opening the lock using a lockpick instead of a key, over and over and over again. In retrospect, what had seemed like an easy way to practice her lock-picking skills might, just might, have weakened the locking mechanism somewhat. She pressed her fingertips to her forehead, feeling quite stupid.

"So, Movie Magic Kit, right? Yeah, I used to have one of those. You did a good job" said Ron nervously. He held up the mask, looking at it closely.

Shego reached out and carefully took the mask from him. She placed it back into the chest, then closed the lid. "Didn't anybody ever teach you not to peek inside things marked with somebody else's name?" she asked. Shego knew that she ought to summon up some plasma fire and threaten the buffoon, but at the moment she felt a bit too embarrassed.

"So…." Said Ron. He sucked his breath in audibly through his teeth. "Awkward," he finally said with great finality.

"Look, it's just something I use for training. I put it on the robot and it gives me a more personalized target. It's not weird at all," said Shego.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm sure Kim would totally understand that. Way of the warrior and everything," said Ron doubtfully.

"You're going to tell her?" asked Shego.

"You know what? I think she'll sleep better at night if I don't," said Ron.

Shego nodded in silent agreement and for a moment they just stood there, neither sure what to say.

Suddenly, they both spoke simultaneously. "I wish Kim would hurry up and get here," they said.

Ron and Shego looked at each other in surprise, and Ron offered a weak smile. "Jinx, you owe me a soda?" he said.

* * *

Kim Possible swung down from the ceiling using her grappling hook line. As she came up parallel to one of Drakken's henchmen, she started herself spinning by kicking him in the face. She canceled the spin by kicking another henchman in the face from the opposite direction, then released the line and dropped to the ground. Both men she had kicked fell over unconscious.

Across the room, a third henchman banged desperately on a control panel. In response, a wall opened up and a robot lumbered out. It wasn't very fast, but there was a spinning buzzsaw at the end of one of its arms, which it hefted menacingly in Kim's direction. Kim adopted a fighting stance, ready for its attack. Before the robot got more than a few steps into the room, however, a heavy lighting fixture fell from the ceiling, crushing it.

Kim looked up to see a naked molerat waving down at her. "Thanks Rufus," she called up to the molerat. Her gratitude was genuine, but a part of Kim wished she could have gone ahead and fought the robot. She felt very much like working off some aggression.

The henchman who had triggered the robot was trying to sneak away. Kim whistled to get his attention, then gestured sharply at the ground. He took a moment to consider his two unconscious friends, and he very quickly decided to comply by sitting meekly on the ground.

The Kimmunicator beeped. Kim pulled it out swiftly, speaking almost before Wade's image appeared on the screen. "What's the sitch, Wade? Have you found anything?"

"Sorry Kim, no news. Drakken and Shego seem to have dropped off the grid. I have been backtracking their movements, though. Remember I told you about that weird call a while back, when Drakken was asking me about Gemini and the Worldwide Evil Empire? Well get this. A couple of days before that in Los Angeles, Shego, or at least someone using her plasma fire, fought a bunch of uniformed men inside a post office. The police weren't able to get a very good description because all the witnesses were drugged with some sort of gas. The colors of the uniform seem to match the jumpsuits of WWEE henchmen, though. The strange part is, the police chase after the men was blocked by someone matching Drakken's description.

"Then later that day, a hover car carrying both Drakken and Shego crashlanded in the middle of the city. Police reports say their car was damaged before the trash, like it had been hit by some sort of weapons fire. They fled the scene together," said Wade.

"It sounds like Drakken is definitely involved with Gemini and his group somehow. You don't have anything since then?" asked Kim.

"One thing, but I can't confirm it. Two nights ago the Field Museum of Natural Science and History outside Go City blew up. A hover car matching Drakken's technology crashed in the lake in the center of the city park. Of course, other people have gotten access of Drakken's designs in the last few years. He's left a lot of hover cars littering the landscape," said Wade.

"What about Dr. Director? If WWEE is involved, then Global Justice should know something," said Kim.

"I put in a call, but you know how they work. They don't tell anyone anything unless they have to. Operational security and stuff. And their networks aren't easy to hack, even for me," said Wade. He looked a bit embarrassed at this last admission, and took a drink from his soda to cover it up.

"I can't believe they- No, that's not fair. Dr. Director can be kind of high-handed, but she's a good person. If she knew anything about Ron, she'd tell us," said Kim.

On the screen of her Kimmunicator, Kim could see Wade nodding in acceptance. He continued, "And just to finish my clean sweep of nada, I still can't locate Ron by means of his tracking chip. Either it was disabled-"

"Like happened with Gemini," Kim interrupted.

"Right, like with Gemini, or he's in a shielded location. To be honest, Kim, I just called to see if you were having any better luck. I don't know where to look next," admitted Wade.

"There's no sign of Drakken in this lair either, though at least I found some henchmen this time. Randomly busting into every lair you can find is getting us nowhere. I think…" said Kim, pausing to look at the henchman still sitting meekly on the ground in surrender. "I think it's time for something a little more old-fashioned," she concluded.

"Kim, what do you-" began the young genius, but Wade was cut off as Kim turned off the Kimmunicator and slipped it back into her pocket.

"Rufus!" called Kim. The naked molerat scampered up her leg and into her arms. Kim then bent her head down and whispered into Rufus's ear. When he nodded his head in understanding, she sat him back on the ground again.

Kim walked over to the henchman. "Hello," she said.

"I'm not saying nothing," replied then henchman. Then he stiffened and looked down. There was a visible lump underneath the ankle of his jumpsuit, and it was moving up his leg rapidly.

"What you're feeling is a naked molerat. Interesting thing about naked molerats; their jaws are so strong, they can cut steel with their teeth," said Kim calmly.

The henchman gulped and sweatdrops started to bead on his cheeks.

"Now unless you want to test that little factoid first-hand, I suggest you help me find Dr. Drakken, Shego, and my friend Ron," said Kim.

"I- I don't know much, but I did hear from somebody over in the haunted lair that Shego needed some help moving some stuff," said the henchman.

As he continued to talk, Kim listened and took notes. A part of her mind, however, was occupied with thoughts of Ron_. Just be okay, Ron. Whatever they're doing to you, I promise that I'll be there soon_, she thought.

* * *

"I can't believe she's doing this to me," complained Ron.

"You're talking to me again? So you've forgiven me for my little map mix-up?" asked the computer.

"No I haven't," said Ron, gesturing at the computer's speaker with his ladle. He returned it quickly to the saucepan before he spilled any of his sauce. "I was just talking out loud."

"You don't like to cook?" inquired the computer.

"I love cooking. I am the Zen master of the kitchen," said Ron. He waved his free hand around the lair's small kitchen, where he was currently occupied cooking dinner.

"Then what's the problem?" said the computer.

Ron looked much put-upon. "The problem, Mr. Kill-All-Humans, is that this is just blurring the whole captor-slash-captive relationship even further. I mean, am I her hostage or her butler? Who knows anymore! I would have just made her tie me back up to the chair except… I'm hungry and this is the only way I'm going to get to eat."

"Perhaps I can help. I happen to know where there are some very special spices," said the computer.

"I got to say though, the proper response to 'Jinx, you owe me a soda.' is _not_ 'Fine, I'll bring the soda, you cook dinner.' That is not how it works," continued Ron.

The computer made a sound as if it were clearing its (non-existent) throat. "I said, I know where some very special spices are."

"I heard, and ignored, you the first time. Contrary to popular belief, Ron Stoppable is not a slow learner, and I already see where the hunt for special spices is going to end. It's going to end with me falling me off the mountain after you lead me into another trap," said Ron.

"No, no, the spices are right here in the kitchen," protested the computer.

"Where?" said Ron suspiciously.

"In the cabinet under the sink," answered the computer.

Ron glanced around, looking for any sign of a threat. Seeing none, he crouched down and looked inside the cabinet under the sink. After a moment, he said, "Computer, when you said 'special spices', were you talking about these jars of white powder?"

"That's right," replied the computer. "I'm glad to hear they're still there since my robots put them there years ago."

"The jars have skull and crossbones symbols on them," said Ron.

"I use a non-standard labeling system," replied the computer.

"And the writing on the lids says, 'Rat Poison,'" continued Ron.

"That's French. It's supposed to say 'Ratte Poisson'. My automatic spell-check function must have… mistakenly… you're not buying this, are you?" said the computer.

"I know you bad guys don't have a very high opinion of my intelligence, but there's a certain point where it just… well, it becomes insulting," said Ron.

"Now don't take it that way," said the computer. "I really don't have a lot to work with here. I took my best shot with the garbage chute. Sometimes I think I… I just may never succeed in killing a human." A small sobbing noise came from the speaker to punctuate this confession.

Ron's sympathy was engaged. "Aww buddy, come on. I'm sure you'll eventually manage to… to…" Ron's mouth hung open as he tried to decide where he was going with this. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders and went back to cooking.

"So no special spices then?" asked the computer.

"No!"

* * *

Shego used her spoon to scoop the final bite of food from her plate and carry it to her mouth. She chewed and swallowed, then said, "I admit it. This is pretty good."

Ron leaned back in his chair, having long since finished his half of the food. He had a toothpick between his lips and rather than respond verbally, merely flashed Shego a thumbs-up.

Shego glanced up at the clock, then tapped her fingers against the table impatiently.

Ron took note. Removing the toothpick, he asked, "Not that this hasn't been fun, but how long are you going to be keeping me here? As much as I'm in favor of missing school, it's just going to be a lot of make-up work for every day that I'm gone."

Shego ignited one hand in plasma fire and waved her index finger under Ron's nose. "You're here until Kim rescues you."

"But you don't actually want me for anything," said Ron.

"No," said Shego.

"And you said you weren't laying a trap for Kim," said Ron.

"No. I have a question for her. When she shows up, I'll fight her a little, ask it, and then make my escape," said Shego, having spent some time planning out her course of action.

Ron tapped his fingertips together. "Need to point out here that Kim isn't actually that hard to reach if you have a question. I mean, you could post to the website, call her, beep her; there's lots of ways to reach her. This seems just a _little_ extreme," he said.

Shego smiled nastily. "I wouldn't get as good an answer that way," she said.

Ron gave up. "What do we do until Kim shows up?"

Shego considered. "I didn't really expect her to take this long, but I did pick up a video game just in case. It's called Werewolf Rampage 2. I'd normally just tie you back up, but since you made dinner and everything, do you want to play?"

"Werewolf Rampage 2! How did you get that? They told me that the release date was wrong and it didn't make it out on time," said Ron.

"It turns out the store had a few special secret copies to sell to their most special customers. So I stole one of those," replied Shego.

Ron pumped his fist. "I knew it!" he muttered.

**Some Time Later**

"No… no… no… yeah, got it!" said Ron, mashing the buttons on his controller.

"So, uh, 'Ron'," said Shego as she fiddled with her controller. The sidekick's name felt strange in her mouth. She normally talked to him, when she talked to him at all, in the heat of battle. Having a conversation just felt odd, though it didn't seem to bother Stoppable.

"What?" asked Ron.

"Do you know a girl named Yori?" asked Shego.

"What!" Ron was so distracted, he character took a nasty hit to its health bar. He concentrated on regaining control.

"Yori. Japanese girl, about your age, studying to be a ninja at Yamanuchi. She said she was a friend of yours," said Shego.

"I know Yori. How do you know Yori? How do you know about Yamanuchi for that matter?" asked Ron, sounding upset.

"How do _you_ know about Yamanuchi?" said Shego.

"I was an exchange student there for a week. There was this whole… monkey… thing. It's not important," said Ron, deciding that Shego did not need to hear about his mystical monkey power.

"You? Sensei's standards must be slipping. I studied there too. Longer than a week," said Shego.

Ron considered this, unsure what to say. Finally he found what he thought was the answer. "Oh, in your pre-evil days, right."

Shego took a hand off her controller to box him on the ear. "My pre-evil days get discussed with no one, get it? Anyway, I was back at Yamanuchi a little over a week ago for this whole… thing. Yori gave me a lot of lip about being my enemy because I'm your enemy."

"You're my enemy? Cool, I didn't think I qualified for enemy status," said Ron.

"No! I mean, she might have thought so, but that doesn't mean you qualify as- You know, I'm sorry I brought the whole thing up. Let's just play the game," said Shego.

"All right. That was pretty nice of Yori, though," said Ron.

**A While Later Still**

They continued playing until it was quite late. Then, as Ron executed a particularly difficult combo, he felt a familiar weight climb up his side and sit on his shoulder. "Rufus! You're just in time buddy. Watch me take out this lion!"

True to his words, Ron's on-screen character hacked and bit its way to victory. Ron high-fived Rufus, who was always willing to help celebrate Ron's achievements. As this occurred, however, Ron realized something. "Wait a minute. If you're here, then that must mean that Kim is-"

"Right over here," said Kim Possible. She was standing in the large room's doorway, leaning slightly against the frame. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, making her face look harsher than normal. This was only appropriate, as she wore a stern expression on her face. Ron noticed that she was dressed in her cold weather mission gear, and a few small patches of snow adorned her sleeves, not yet having had time to melt.

"Hey KP, thanks for the rescue!" said Ron with honest gratitude.

"Rescue! Ron, I was worried sick about you! You don't know what I had to do to find you. And now that I've finally made it, what do I see? You're playing video games with Shego!" said Kim. She crossed her arms in frustration.

Shego gave a brief wave to Kim at the mention of her name, but didn't otherwise take her eyes off her Werewolf Rampage II character.

"It's not like that, Kim. First she had me tied to a chair, and then she made me clean, and then I had to cook for her," said Ron. He was trying to divide his attention between looking at Kim as he spoke to her and keeping an eye on his video game character.

Kim shook her head and shrugged in puzzlement. "Are you her hostage or her butler?" she said.

Ron turned to Shego, who was seated on the floor beside him while they played. "See, I told you! This is an unacceptable blurring of the captor-slash-captive relationship," he said.

Shego looked at him in annoyance. "You didn't think that way when you wanted to play video games. Now be quiet while I- Awww," she said. There was a sad little sound effect from the television's speakers as her werewolf character died for the final time. Seeing that play time was over, Shego stood up to face Kim.

"So where's Drakken?" asked Kim, looking back and forth suspiciously.

"Dr. Drakken is a little busy right now. Oh, and to answer your question, Kimmie," said Shego. In one swift movement she reached down and scooped up Ron, putting him into a headlock under her left arm. She ignited plasma around her right hand and pointed it at Ron's head menacingly. "Hostage. He's definitely my hostage."

"Hey! This was not part of the plan as communicated to me," said Ron.

"This is the part of the plan I didn't tell you about," said Shego.

"What do you want, Shego?" asked Kim, shifting into a fighting stance.

"I want you to answer one simple question, Kim. How did you find me and the buffoon here? How did you locate us? I want all the details, or the sidekick gets it," said Shego.

"All right, don't hurt him," said Kim, presenting her hands palms-out in a soothing gesture. "Simple answer? You hid yourself from Wade really well, but your henchmen were pretty loose-lipped… once I asked them nicely to talk. One helped you load supplies, another knew about this lair, and pretty soon we had enough information to pin down where you were."

"That's it? Hmmm," said Shego. She appeared to be thinking about Kim's answer while still holding Ron in the headlock. She began muttering to herself. "Go beat up some henchmen, that makes sense. But if I can't find Gemini, how can I find his goons? It's not like there's one- Wait, hold on a minute. It all makes sense now!"

Seeing that Shego was now nodding her head in satisfaction, Ron asked, "So if you've got your question answered, how about letting me go?"

"Sure!" said Shego. She began spinning Ron around in a circle, building up momentum, and then she threw him at Kim.

Kim had no choice but to catch Ron, worried that otherwise he might be injured by impacting the wall. The problem was that this left Kim's hands occupied as Shego ignited the plasma around her fists and charged.

Not having any better options, Kim elected to give ground. She moved backwards, out of the room and into the large corridor beyond. Shego was following at a quick pace, but now that Kim had killed Ron's momentum she could afford to dump Ron safely, if inelegantly, off to the side.

Seeing that there was no way to outdistance Shego's charge, Kim elected to move herself out of reach. She jumped to one side, bounced off the wall with enough force to carry her to the other wall at a greater height, and then made one final bounce higher still. Momentum overcoming gravity had pushed Kim high enough vertically to grab the fire sprinkler on the ceiling. She swung back and forth from it, planning to redirect her momentum enough to land behind Shego. Kim had miscalculated the strength of the sprinkler, though, and it snapped off in her tight grip. Her glove prevented the plastic shards from injuring her hand, but the unexpected end to her gymnastics caused Kim to fall almost directly on top of Shego.

Fortunately the sudden spray of high-pressure water from above caused Shego to duck reflexively rather than taking advantage of the opening. Kim landing neatly on top of Shego's head, balancing on one foot for half a second before leaping off to land behind Shego- exactly where she had intended to be in the first place.

_I'm going to pretend I had that planned from the beginning,_ Kim couldn't help but think.

A heavy rain of water now filled the corridor as the other sprinklers automatically went off in response. Shego cautiously moved towards Kim, the water hissing and snapping as it hit the hot plasma surrounding her fists. Good as Shego's sense of balance was, experience had taught her that Kim's was better. The now-slick floor of the corridor was not an advantage.

Kim waited, electing to receive the attack. This was just what Shego wanted. Clasping both hands together, she swung at Kim in a double hammer blow that was deliberately easy to dodge. As expected, Kim took only a small hop backwards, not giving any more ground than she had to. Shego continued the swing, separating her hands to drive the claws of her gloves into the corridor wall. Shego's plasma allowed her to near-instantly melt a grip strong enough to support herself. She used this grip to lift her body up, lashing out with a double-kick using both legs. Not expecting the attack, Kim caught a hard blow from both of Shego's boots.

Despite the successful attack, things didn't go completely Shego's way. Though obviously injured from the double-kick, Kim retained enough strength to grab Shego's right leg while it was in the air and vulnerable. She began twisting it, forcing Shego to release the wall and hop backwards to pull her leg out of Kim's grip. Kim was too hurt to follow, and the end result was that Kim leaned against the wall clutching her ribs, while Shego found herself seated in a puddle of water on the corridor floor, largely uninjured.

Shego used her plasma to create a small cloud of steam; she hoped it would obscure Kim's vision. Then instead of getting to her feet, Shego placed one hand to each side and attempted to springboard from the ground by arm strength alone, hoping to hit Kim with another double-kick.

Kim anticipated her opponent this time, despite the cloud of steam. She dodged nimbly to the side and struck a blow across both of Shego's knees, leaving Shego back on the ground, her legs in agonizing pain.

"The kicks are new. You don't usually use your legs so much. Took me a minute to adjust," said Kim as she retreated slightly down the corridor rather than press her attack.

_I must have hurt her more than I thought. Still, I could use a breather myself to get these knees working again_," thought Shego. "Yeah, my hands can cause so much more damage with the plasma and all, but lately I've been thinking they make a good distraction too. When I fight somebody, they spend so much time watching the hands-o-death, they don't pay attention to what my feet are doing," said Shego.

"Good thinking. You caught me there," said Kim. She took an aggressive stance, obviously preparing an attack.

By now Shego had gotten to her feet. "But only once, right Kimmie? Tricks never work on you more than once," said Shego.

It was true and more disturbing than Shego let on. Even without her powers, Shego could fight nearly anyone in the world on equal terms, other than a few of the true fighting masters. With her powers, Shego could add enough concussive force to hit like a jackhammer or burn through metal and stone with a touch. An opponent couldn't dare let her land a single blow. Yet trying to hit Kim was like trying to hit smoke. The cheerleader seemed to anticipate her every move and twist out of the way like she had seen it coming a year ago. Once in a while Shego would see Kim get surprised by something unexpected, but never by the same thing twice.

On the offensive side, Kim was a whirlwind of varying attacks. Every other martial artist Shego had ever known selected a few of the moves that best fit them and practiced them over and over again until they were instinctual. For Kim, it seemed that everything was instinctual, even a move she had invented only a few seconds ago. Shego was as good as practice and superpowers could make her, but Kim was a once-in-a-generation fighting genius. Kim was magic.

That was what made fighting Kim so much fun.

Shego realized that she was still waiting on Kim's attack. She gave a come-hither gesture to encourage her opponent. Kim grinned and charged down the corridor towards Shego.

Impossibly, however, Kim Possible jerked to a stop a few feet in front of Shego. It should have been impossible, anyway, but anything was possible for a Possible… especially when they're gripping a grappling gun behind their back and using the line to stop themselves short. Kim's momentum transferred into a sideways arc, and she hydroplaned towards the wall, angling her feet just right to send splash of water directly into Shego's face. Shego just had time to notice the grappling line and berate herself for not noticing Kim attaching it when the water hit her face, temporarily blinding her.

Just after the water hit her face, something else hit the back of Shego's legs hard, causing her to fall backwards. A flash of blonde hair through water-blurred eyes told her it was the sidekick. Normally Shego's excellent situational awareness would never have allowed to buffoon to sneak up on her, much less manage to hit her so hard. Kim and Ron had worked together, though, Kim occupying all of Shego's attention and making her vulnerable.

This time Kim followed up on Shego's vulnerability, letting loose with a roundhouse to the jaw that sent Shego sliding along the rain-slicked corridor all the way back into the room she had started from. She lay there, seeing stars, while Ron and Kim entered the room.

"Nice one, KP," said Ron.

"Couldn't have done it without you, Ron," said Kim, and she gave Ron a sideways hug to show she meant it.

Either the blow to the head or the gratuitous sentimentality was making Shego nauseous, but she wasn't quite out yet. She was in no condition to stop Kim, however, if Kim chose to finish the job. Shego braced herself to wake up in prison, but Kim spoke to her instead of attacking.

"Shego, is Drakken in some kind of trouble? I know that you fought with henchmen from the Worldwide Evil Empire recently, and I know that you and Drakken were asking about Gemini. Now I find you here, alone, and the henchmen I talked to say they haven't seen Drakken since you came back alone from some mission," said Kim.

"None of your business," said Shego in what was supposed to be a defiant tone but actually came off as exhausted and pleading.

Kim continued to put the pieces together. "You kidnapped Ron, but you didn't want anything from him. All you wanted was to know how I tracked the two of you down. Shego… did Gemini kidnap Drakken? Is that what's going on here?"

Shego dragged herself to her feet, leaning back against the wall. "What if it is?" she asked.

"I can help you," said Kim simply. She looked Shego in the eye and seemed completely sincere.

"Why would you help me or Drakken? In case you've forgotten, archenemies here. Hello?" said Shego sarcastically.

"She's got a point, Kim. If Drakken's in trouble, he deserves it. Shego just kidnapped me! We don't need to help her," said Ron.

Kim shook her head at Ron. Then she turned back to Shego. "Helping people is kind of what I do. Gemini's a bad guy, so if he has Drakken, I'm sure it's a bad thing. We can work together, like we did against Aviarius."

Pride and need went to war inside Shego's head. Unlike her brothers, she couldn't doubt Kim's effectiveness. Kim had just beaten her, after all. Still, working with Kim to help her brothers was one thing. Letting Kim effectively do Shego's job for her… it was too much. It was too much, and Shego knew she couldn't swallow that much of her ego. She'd choke to death. She'd have a stroke on the spot; she just knew it.

"Thanks for the offer, Kim, but protecting Drakken is my job, not your job. If I've screwed up, I'm going to be the one to fix it. I'll save him without your help," said Shego. As she spoke, she hit a control panel, causing a section of the wall to swing down and form a platform on the side of the mountain. At the same time, she thumbed a remote control to summon her ride.

"If that's how you want to do it, fine. I'll let you go this time so you can save Drakken, but I'm warning you. Next time we meet, I'm going to take both you and Drakken straight to jail," said Kim.

"You'll see both me and Drakken, but you won't be taking us anywhere," said Shego. She stepped out onto the platform.

"Shego! Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?" asked Kim.

Shego turned to look at her rival one more time. "Kimmie, you've already helped. Trust me." With that, Shego blew Kim a kiss and jumped into the cockpit of the hover car she had summoned by remote control. Then she flew off into the mountain winds.

"Can't help but think that was a mistake, KP," said Ron.

"I'm already regretting it," replied Kim, blushing slightly.

"So would you kids like to know where there's some buried treasure? I can help you find it, if you'll just follow my directions!" said the computer in Drakken's voice.

Kim looked towards the source of the sound in astonishment.

* * *

Shego strode into the room, jumpsuit clean and starched, projecting an air of absolute confidence. She looked around at Drakken's henchmen.

"All right, I need a volunteer!" she said.

None of the henchmen moved. They were even holding their breath.

"Let me rephrase that," said Shego. "You, John Carter. You're helping me with something important. Get a your kit and get to the plane."

Carter hesitated only a moment before nodding vigorously and running to get his equipment. Shego followed, making sure he knew from her irritated expression that he was expected to hurry.

Within an unreasonably short period of time, they were in the air. Once Shego had completed take-off and gotten them on course, she set the autopilot and walked to the rear, where Carter sat patiently waiting on a bench.

"I suppose you want to know what the mission is," said Shego.

"Y-yes, if that's all right," said Carter.

"Drakken has been kidnapped by Gemini. I have a plan to get him back, and you're going to help me," said Shego.

"Dr. Drakken is in trouble? I'll do whatever I can. How can I help," asked Carter passionately.

"Well for starters…" began Shego.

Without warning, she grabbed Carter by the throat and slammed him back against the hull of the plane. "For starters, I thought you could tell me everything you know about your real boss… **Gemini**!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Oh yeah. You may want to go back and reread "Life in the Lair" for this one. A lot of things I set up in that chapter came to fruition in this chapter.

Yes, I always intended for John Carter to be a traitor. I've dropped a few subtle hints here and there, but don't feel bad if you didn't figure it out. I didn't _want_ there to be enough clues for someone to figure it out. But if you go back and look at the scenes he was in and then take note of when Gemini is able to do or know something….

Regarding Drakken's scene, that was an important character bit I wanted to get in. See the thing is, Drakken has never seemed to have it in for Kim personally. Oh, I'm sure he really dislikes her, but there's always this sense that he has more important things to worry about. Even when he goes after her directly, he always makes a clear connection that he's doing it so she won't interfere in him taking over the world. It's never like taking out Kim is a goal in and of itself. It's always taking out Kim so that he can go ahead and do something else. I think that's neat and in a way, admirable. He won't let himself be defined by someone else.

I hope you found the computer as amusing as it was for me to write it. I wanted a third party around for Shego and Ron to interact with, and I laughed myself silly when I thought of the computer. My favorite line in this chapter is the deadpan, "I use a non-standard labeling system." The computer tries so hard to fulfill its homicidal monomania, bless its heart.

This fic does indeed take place before 'So the Drama'. There might be an epilogue, however, which takes place after 'So the Drama' happens. (Or would have happened, who knows where this fic will end? I do, but you shouldn't feel confident about anything.)

I hope I got Ron correct. He can be a tough one to write sometimes. He's not super competent, but he does try and he often manages to provide the right bit of help at just the right time. (You notice he made two jabs at finding a way to escape and one serious escape attempt and only really relaxed after Shego convinced him she was going to let him go as soon as Kim showed up.)

And yes, despite this being Shego and Drakken's story, Kim and Ron punked Shego pretty good. But then, what could you expect? Normally they fight her and Drakken together, along with a doomsday plot running in the background to distract them and add tension. How well could she really do in a situation like this? Yet it still felt a little odd to me, since I've spent so much of the story building Shego up as a smart, competent, and dangerous woman. And she _is_. It's just that Team Possible is really that good. Now you know why folks call Kim in from half a world away.

In the initial outline, Shego was going to escape on her own, leaving Kim and Ron confused about what was actually going on. I realized, though, that I had already written Team Possible far too many clues about what was really going on. (Especially with Drakken's call to Wade. Ooops.) So I changed it up so that Kim would offer to help, Shego would refuse her, and Kim would let her go. I hope it worked.

From a purely logical perspective, the smart thing for Shego to do would have been to let Kim help her. People don't always do the smart thing, though, and since Shego's main job is to be Drakken's bodyguard, it would have been the same to Shego as admitting she needs Kim to do her job for her. (And well, Kim coming along to help really wasn't the story I wanted to write, so I hope it's a good enough excuse.)

Thanks to: Eva91, campy, Jezrianna2.0, Matri, Tito, Pokemon Fan, Visigoth29527, Blackfire 18, and annasinistra for your reviews. I always take each review I receive to heart in developing my writing, and I greatly appreciate the encouragement. Especially this time, as I received many long reviews telling me what people did and didn't like, which is always very helpful.

Warning: Next chapter may not be for a couple of weeks or more, as I'm going to be doing some serious travel over the next ten days. Take heart, though, this story is definitely approaching a climax!


	9. Gotta do what you gotta do

The henchman John Carter flushed in fear and hyperventilated as Shego's grip held him pinned against the inner hull of the airplane. "No… No, you've got it all wrong. I'm loyal. I'm loyal, I swear," he said, gasping.

Shego released her grip, allowing Carter to slide back into his seat. "Is that a fact? I'm not a Sherlock Holmes type, but I'm not stupid either. Let me go over it for you," she said. "Drakken doesn't exactly have crack security at the lairs, but we don't just let people walk in and out. Those spy flies don't have enough range to have flown in on their own. They had to catch a ride with somebody, and you're the most recent hire. The trouble with Gemini started not too long after you got here."

(flashback)**  
As Carter stumbled down the stairs, Shego watched in amusement. She was interrupted by a fly buzzing in her ear, and she waved it away in annoyance. _Spooking the newbies is fun_, thought Shego to herself.**

"Maybe Gemini's ninja snuck them in! It wasn't me," said Carter.

"Maybe. But then how did Gemini know about Project Firebreak to steal it in the first place? Drakken wasn't talking to anyone about that; not even me," replied Shego.

(flashback)  
**"So what is Project Firebreak supposed to do?" asked Shego as they walked.**

**"Well I was going to tell you all about it," said Drakken. He raised his head, pushing his nose into the air in a gesture of superiority. "But since you're in such a snit today, you can just wait to find out until everyone else does."**

"You were working in his laboratory. You could have studied the plans, figured it out, and reported in. You had plenty of chances to look at Drakken's notes and a lot of other stuff coming through there," she continued.

(flashback)  
**They walked out into the lab bay to the table cluttered with Drakken's current pile of work. The new henchman, Carter, had a clipboard in one hand and was studying a humming machine, apparently taking notes on its performance. Drakken searched around the table and finally found what he was looking for near where Carter was working.**

"Doctor Drakken… is… is a great man, but he's not the best at keeping secrets. There's lots of ways Gemini could have heard about what he was working on. I bet those spy flies saw more than you think," said Carter, defending himself.

"Those goons of Gemini knew too much for that. They were able to roll right through everything we had, one step ahead of us the whole time," said Shego.

(flashback)  
**Cursing in Japanese, Alpha leapt straight at the exoskeleton. As he moved, he drew a short-bladed weapon and executed a slicing motion with it, cutting a cable running along the exoskeleton's surface. There was a soft thrum as the suit's laser cannon immediately powered down.**

**"What are you, some kind of ninja engineer? How did you know how to do that?" griped Drakken. **

"But let's say it was the spy flies. We got rid of them and Drakken came up with not too half-bad of a plan to track down his machine," Shego continued.

(flashback)  
**"Shego, don't bother with the jet! I do have another plan. Instead of letting Gemini track the parts to us, we keep a watch on where the parts are being sent. I can hack the proper computers, and when I do, the shipping patterns will tell us right where Gemini is hiding. Then we take the fight to him," said Drakken.**

"He might have just figured it out. Gemini is a very dangerous man," said Carter, letting a bit of defiance leak into his voice.

"Figuring it out is one thing, but Gemini was personally waiting for us at the museum. He knew just when we'd be there. Somebody tipped him off. Somebody made sure we'd walk right into his trap. And somebody made sure there was no way we'd see it coming," replied Shego.

(flashback)  
**"We've got him, sir" shouted henchman Carter, running into Drakken's laboratory with a bundle of papers under one arm.**

(flashback)  
**Behind Drakken, the door to the Paleolithic Sky Pavilion slid open. Drakken turned at the sound, seeing Gemini revealed in the doorway. Shocked, Drakken could only protest, "Impossible! My biometric scanner said there was no one in this museum." He waved the biometric scanner at Gemini, as if hoping it would make his foe disappear.**

**"Perhaps you should have double-checked it before you left," said Gemini. **

"This is all circumstantial! Gemini could have worked any of the people working with Dr. Drakken. What makes you so sure it was me?" said Carter.

"You make a good point. Let me double-check," said Shego. Using unnecessary force, she pushed Carter to the side until she had access to the back pocket of his pants. Then she took his wallet.

"Give that back! That's mine!" said Carter.

"It is? Good, then there's no mistake that this Worldwide Evil Empire membership card is also yours," said Shego, opening the wallet and displaying the card in question. She smiled at Carter the same way a shark smiles at a fish it's stalking.

All the blood drained out of Carter's face. "I… really shouldn't have kept that thing in my wallet, should I?"

"Probably not," agreed Shego.

"But… but, how did you know I had it?" asked Carter.

"Hello! Master thief here. I stole your wallet, looked inside it, and put it back without you noticing before we even left the lair," said Shego.

"So what was with all of the explanation?" said Carter.

"Pretty much just me bragging about how I figured it out," confessed Shego. "Now to business." Gripping the cargo door, she released the handle and gave it a fast push, sliding the door open to reveal the long fall to the ground just outside of the airplane's safe confines.

Carter swallowed hard and clutched his seat.

"Now if at any time this conversation makes you uncomfortable, I want you to feel free to leave," said Shego cheerily. She gestured out the door.

"I don't know anything! WWEE doesn't tell me anything. I can't help you," said Carter.

"That's really too bad," said Shego. She grabbed Carter by the collar and began dragging towards the open door. His efforts to resist were completely ineffectual.

"Wait a minute! Maybe- Maybe I can help," shouted Carter desperately.

"First you can't, and then you can…. Quit jerking me around here, Carter. All I want to know is, where is Gemini's base? Where is he keeping Drakken?" said Shego.

"It's not that simple. WWEE headquarters is a huge airship. Gemini keeps it constantly moving, so that the Global Justice Network can't track it. They're not going to tell a spy like me where it's going to be," said Carter.

Shego considered this. "A spy like you, huh? First thing's first. I want you to tell me why you were assigned to spy on Drakken, what reported back, and everything you know about Gemini."

Nodding vigorously, Carter began to speak. "I used to be a graduate student. It seems like it was only yesterday I was working on my doctorate, trying to set up an experiment to test possible industrial uses for nano-constructed fibers. But I got greedy, got lazy, and I tried to steal the work of a professor who was renting out one of the labs. I got caught, and it was-"

"Bo-ring! I didn't ask for your life story, sobby-McSob. Just concentrate on the spy gig and leave your sad sack life for someone who cares. 'Kay?" said Shego contemptuously.

"This is my life we're talking about here!" shouted Carter angrily. He was upset enough to pull back his arm and take a swing at Shego.

She caught Carter's fist easily in mid-air, arresting his punch without visible sign of strain. Green plasma began to flow as Shego held Carter's hand trapped in her grip, and the traitorous henchman gasped in pain. "If you don't get back on topic, I'm going to take over telling your life story. Specifically, the end. Got it?" inquired Shego.

Carter nodded, tears welling up from the corners of his eyes. Shego gave his fist a final squeeze, then released it. Carter clutched his injured appendage against his chest, trying to relieve the pain by putting pressure on it. His breaths were short and ragged.

Eventually, Carter managed to continue. "So… kicked out of school, fear for my life, recruited by WWEE, yadda-yadda-yadda. Then one day I'm assigned to spy on Dr. Drakken. It wasn't tough getting hired. You know his pay isn't the best compared to HenchCo, so I don't think there were a lot of applicants and- Uh, anyway, I don't think WWEE knew about Project Firebreak to start off with. They knew Drakken was working on something, and I guess some of the parts he stole got Dr. Vachslo interested. My handler told me to snoop around, see what the components were being used for, and report back anything interesting. Oh, and plant the spy flies as well."

"But then they got you to help steal Project Firebreak," prompted Shego.

"Yes, once they figured out what it was supposed to do from some plans I copied. They had me steal some of Dr. Drakken's other technology too, but Firebreak was the main thing. Then after that… Well, you've already guessed the rest," said Carter.

"What about Gemini? What do you know about him? What's he likely to do with Dr. Drakken?" asked Shego.

"Gemini? I've never met him, not in person. Just as glad I haven't, either. You know how people like to say about dangerous guys, 'He'd as soon kill you as look at you.'? Well with Gemini, they _mean_ it!" responded Carter.

Shego nodded. "Now for the one million dollar question, college boy, and you had better hope you can figure out an answer. Where can I find Gemini's flying fortress?"

"I told you, they're not going to tell someone like me something like that. Now I'm not saying I can't help you. I can help you. It's just going to take some time. If you'll only let me- What! Why are you looking at me like that?" said Carter.

Shego had been staring at him with a somewhat far-away look in her eyes. She spoke. "You're boring me again, so I was thinking of a joke. Wanna hear it?"

Carter nodded.

"How does a henchman smell after you've burned off his nose?" Shego paused a beat. "Just awful! Get it? It's a double-meaning thing." She reached out with her right hand, covered in plasma flames, slowly moving it towards Carter's face. "Why aren't you laughing?" she asked quietly.

Carter's nerve held out until Shego's claws were about three inches away from his nose. "I know where the headquarters will be! I know where it'll be!"

Shego paused, not moving her hand any farther away. "I thought they weren't going to tell something like that to a guy like you."

"They don't, but I'm a spy, right? Finding out things I'm not supposed to know is kind of what I do now. People tell me things. Gemini is keeping the fortress parked above Chicago. That's where he wants to make his first strike. I heard it from a friend of a friend. It's cloaked, but I can tell you how to find it anyway," said Carter.

Shego listened as Carter spilled more details of WWEE's operation. She made the occasional note as he talked. Finally he finished, pale and sweating.

"WWEE will hunt me down and kill me for this. You're going to get captured and Gemini will know what I told you and then they'll come after me," said Carter, sounding resigned.

Shego gestured towards the still-open cargo door.

"Don't think I'm not tempted," responded Carter. "So what are you going to do with me now?"

Shego considered for a while. "I'm going to steal all your money and then drop you somewhere I can find you if it turns out you're lying," she finally said.

"You're going to steal all my money!" said Carter.

"I'm a thief so it… you know, seems appropriate. I want all your bank account numbers, access codes, credit card numbers, and all of that. That includes what WWEE was paying you to spy on us," said Shego.

"I guess I don't have any choice," said Carter bitterly.

Shego put an arm around his shoulders in a friendly fashion. "Aww, look at it this way. Since you won't be able to access any of your money, WWEE will have a harder time tracking you down. You'll be living off the grid. In a way, I'm doing you a favor."

"Yet in another, more accurate way, you're totally screwing me," said Carter.

"You're feisty when you're not pretending to be all meek and bootlicking, college boy," said Shego. She started to head back to the cockpit to correct course towards where she planned to leave Carter.

"Shego?" asked Carter.

She turned back towards him. "What?"

"Would you really have…." Carter trailed off and tapped the side of his nose to indicate his meaning.

"You don't think I would?" said Shego.

"I don't know. You're a real piece of work, but you couldn't know for sure that I knew anything," said Carter.

Shego cocked her head to one side. "You folded, so you don't get to see my cards, drop-out."

"Fine. For what it's worth, I hope you kick Gemini's butt. Those guys are all jerks, and I only worked for them because I had to," said Carter.

"Suuuure," said Shego as she once again resumed moving to the pilot's chair. This time, Carter didn't try to stop her.

As she sat in the chair and took the controls, Shego couldn't help but think about Carter's question. Shego had done a lot of things over the years, but torture wasn't her style. Sure she'd stick somebody in a deathtrap if that was what Drakken demanded, but that wasn't the same thing. She didn't have to get her hands dirty. Knocking someone around; well most people were asking for it. The thought of bloody, cutting pieces off, torture was…. It wasn't a place she wanted to go.

_I'll do whatever I need to in order to find Drakken. I'm glad I didn't have to do that, though. I could have pushed Carter out of the plane and maybe I still should, but I guess a girl has to have some limits. I just hope people don't think I'm going soft_, thought Shego.

* * *

It was a small pier near one end of the massive river docks where cargo entering and leaving Go City was unloaded and loaded. The small ship and its disreputable crew made port a couple of hours before sunset. They were greeted by a crane, several forklifts, a trailer truck, and a team of men ready to make immediate acceptance of their cargo.

The captain, a woman with long dark hair swept back by a bandana and an eyepatch so oversized that one might suspect her of wearing it for effect, climbed down to the dock. "Got your goods," she said to the leader of the transport team in a gruff voice.

"About time," responded the man. He was bald and thickly muscled, but past his prime, with a growing paunch in the stomach area that constantly threatened to burst free of his shirt.

"So what is this stuff anyway? The instruction we got, I figure it's nothing anyone wants going through regular channels," said the ship's captain.

"I'm not paid to ask questions, and neither are you," said the transport team's leader.

The captain shrugged and moved back to supervise her crew's portion of the unloading. A steady stream of crates and cargo containers soon began moving out of the ship's hold and into the back of the truck. The containers contained different appearances and labeling schemes, though none of them seemed to say precisely what was inside.

On in particular was bordered by a green stripe around the top, with lettering on the side saying 'Do Not Stack'. Because of this, the transport team left it until last so that it could be placed on top of the other containers in the rear of the truck. The forklift operator, who had been having a very hard day, accidentally bumped his forks against the side of the container when he tried to pick it up. The container was shoved hard a foot across the dock and there was a sound of something thumping around the interior.

A few seconds after the thump, there was a brief sound that sounded suspiciously like a groan. The forklift operator, who had been maneuvering around for a second attempt at a pick-up, stopped his lift and listened suspiciously. There were no further sounds, but he was still considering getting off his forklift to check the container when the crew boss shouted at him.

"Jenkins! Quit messing around and get that thing loaded so we can get the truck in gear," shouted the supervisor.

Jenkins gave a sort of mental shrug and resumed loading, telling himself that whatever was inside the crate was somebody else's problem.

One loaded, the truck drove off to a parking lot attached to a dilapidated warehouse just outside the city proper. Despite the condition of the warehouse, which looked as thought it had been abandoned for years, the parking lot looked well-maintained and recently paved. The only other vehicle in the lot was a small van, beside which lounged six dangerous-looking men wearing sunglasses.

One man, apparently the leader though he wasn't dressed any differently than the others, waved the truck forward until it had assumed a position boxed in by four painted lines. The other men then ran out to start disconnecting the trailer from the truck, not waiting for the driver to shut off his engine.

The driver rolled down his window. "I have a delivery here," he said.

"We know. We've been waiting for you," replied the leader. "Stay in your truck. When we have the trailer disconnected, you can leave."

"Doesn't somebody need to sign for this stuff… or… something?" asked the driver.

"No," was the leader's clipped response.

Once the driver had left, the truck trailer and its guard continued to wait in the parking lot, no one making any move to start unloading. After a few hours, darkness fell. When the sun was completely gone and stars had appeared in the sky, the leader walked over to a spot of the concrete and opened a hidden panel. Inside were several switches. Flipping one caused a blurring camouflage field to appear around the truck trailer. It wasn't quite invisibility, but in the dark without any lights being shone upon it, it was close enough.

A second switch flipped caused the entire section of parking lot pavement they were standing on to rise up into the air, riding on hidden lift coils. The truck trailer, guard team, and their car all moved swiftly towards the sky. Soon a patch of dark-than-the-sky darkness appeared above them as their target. The rising section of pavement pushed neatly up through the darkness and into a brightly lit cargo hold, where hatch doors closed beneath it, allowing it to come safely to a rest.

This was Gemini's flying fortress, mobile headquarters of the Worldwide Evil Empire.

A crowd of jumpsuited henchmen moved into action, pulling open the doors of the truck trailer and beginning the unloading process. Because it was the last one on, the green-striped container was the first one off. Using a sleek-looking hover dolly, one of the henchmen carted it through several doorways and to an opened storage area away from the main hold. Even as he turned away after dropping it off, another mover arrived pulling his own hover dolly. Completely ignoring the 'Do Not Stack' label, the second mover stacked his container atop the green-striped one.

This process continued several more times, even as other cargo containers from the truck trailer were moved to different storage areas. Finally the lights were flipped off and the storage area was left silent and dark. A few minutes passed.

There was a quiver from the lid of the green-striped cargo container as someone attempted to open it from the inside. The combined weights of the containers stacked on top of the lid prevented this from occurring. After a pause, there was a grunt of effort as the person inside made another attempt, putting more force behind it this time. The lid failed to open so much as half an inch, however.

Another pause, as the container occupant thought things through. For a while nothing seemed to happen, and then a spot on the side of the green-striped container began to bubble and burn. The smell of burning plastic filled the room as a circle was slowly burned into the side of container. Flickers of green light were visible from inside. Finally the circle was complete and with a quick push the occupant popped it loose from the container wall, allowing egress from the container. Coughing quietly from the burnt plastic fumes, Shego crawled out.

She got to her feet and looked at the 'Do Not Stack' labeling on the container, an expression of absolute rage on her face. "Do people around here **not read**!" she whispered to herself, jabbing her finger furiously at the disobeyed instruction. Unsurprisingly, there was no response from the otherwise unoccupied storage chamber. Shego breathed out heavily, aware there was no one around to vent her rage on.

The passing of her anger had another effect on Shego. She clutched her sides with both hands and moved swiftly to the sliding door marking entrance to the storage chamber. Her teeth were clenched together as if in pain, but she nonetheless took the time to listen at the door for a few seconds. Hearing no sounds, she carefully slid it open enough to stick her head out and looked up and down the corridor.

Several doors down, she spotted the object of her desire. With a quick hopping motion, Shego slipped into the corridor and ran for it, entering her target door heedless of whether anyone was already inside.

Two minutes passed. There came the sound of a toilet flushing. Seconds later, a much-relieved Shego eased herself back out into the corridor.

_Teach me to drink a soda before hiding in a shipping crate. Still, they didn't have to wait so long to load it_, she thought.

* * *

Shego pushed herself forward, wriggling through the ventilation shaft. _This just isn't working_, she thought.

The problem wasn't getting around. For a vessel this large, good air circulation was a necessity. With time and effort, she was fairly sure the ventilation ducts could take her anywhere on the airship. The problem was; Shego didn't know where she needed to go. Carter hadn't been able to provide a very good description of the ship's layout, and anyway, he didn't know where they would be keeping Dr. Drakken. Shego had hoped that if she started wandering around, it would become apparent where she needed to go.

That proved not to be the case.

It was time to take some chances. Shego began seeking out the ventilation grills where the ducts peeked out into open rooms, looking for the proper target. It took some time, but eventually she found what she was looking for. Gemini didn't have a lot of female 'henchmen', but there were a few here and there. After considerable searching, Shego had finally found one who was:

About Shego's size

Alone

The woman in question was curled up in a darkened corner of one of the engine rooms, reading a magazine with a flashlight. From her posture and semi-hidden position, it seemed likely she wasn't supposed to be there, which meant that she wasn't likely to be missed for a while. Perfect.

There was only the slightest noise to alert the woman. One moment she was sitting, reading here magazine in comfort. The next moment, Shego loomed above her. All she had time to think or say was one word. "Uh-oh."

"You said it," agreed Shego. She reached out with the extended index finger of her right hand and touched the henchwoman's forehead, applying a quick jolt of concussive plasma force. The henchwoman instantly collapsed unconscious, only a small blister on her forehead indicating what had happened to her.

Five minutes later, Shego tugged on her new purple jumpsuit, attempting to smooth the pinkish-white strip running down its center. She had tied back her hair, tucking most of its body down the back of her uniform, as well as concentrating to remove some of the green highlights from the exposed skin of her face. The red sunglasses, which Shego considered much classier than the visors that Drakken's henchmen usually wore, provided the final touch. Shego was pleased to find that despite their appearance, they provided only a slight red tint to the world when she looked out through them.

Shego tested this last fact by looking through the small viewing window in front of her. Inside the escape pod, she could see the henchwoman whose clothing she had just stolen. The woman was still unconscious, so Shego hadn't bothered to bind and gag her. She wouldn't be staying around long enough to wake up, anyway. Despite the woman's unconsciousness, Shego gave a small wave before pressing the button to launch the pod. It seemed like the thing to do.

Shego had done her best to disable the circuitry that would alert the rest of the ship that an escape pod had been launched. Of course, it was possible that she hadn't managed it, or that someone on the ship would see or feel the pod launching. That was okay, though. By the time anyone had sorted out what had happened, Shego planned to be long gone, and it might provide a useful distraction in the meantime.

Whistling to herself, Shego headed out into the corridors of the airship, looking for someone of whom to ask directions.

The first people she encountered were two men occupied doing maintenance work on an electrical conduit. Shego considered talking to them, but she ultimately decided against it. They looked like they knew where they where and what their job was, which meant they would probably be made suspicious at someone who didn't know where she was or what her job was. They did serve one useful purpose, however. When Shego walked by, they didn't seem alarmed or startled by her appearance. Shego took this to mean that she hadn't forgotten anything major in her disguise.

Granted, one of the men did seem to spend a lot of time staring at her back as she moved away from them down the corridor, but Shego took that as no more than her due. _Still got it_, she thought to herself, slapping one thigh absentmindedly.

A short while later, Shego spotted what she considered a much better target for her questioning. There was a door off the corridor partially opened, and inside Shego could see a dark-haired man with a pencil-thin mustache sitting at an office desk and typing on a laptop computer. He was wearing the same jumpsuit as everyone else, but unlike most of the henchmen Shego had seen, there was a Greek letter emblazoned in the center of his uniform's chest. Shego figured him for a management type, which no doubt meant he'd be happy to tell her what to do.

"Yo," said Shego. She paused and cleared her throat, attempting to make her voice more gruff than usual. "I was told I should report to where they're- we're keeping the prisoner. You know, the blue one who's always whining? I'm new here, and I'm a little lost."

The man with the pencil-thin mustache stood up, startled. He closed his laptop, though not before Shego got a glimpse of a game of Solitaire on the screen. "Come in here!" he ordered.

Shego walked into the office and up to the desk, shifting her eyes from side to side in order to keep an eye out for anything unexpected. She was a woman of many talents, including both stealth and fighting, but this acting business was outside her usual range. She hoped she hadn't screwed up somehow.

"Do you see this?" demanded the man, jabbing his index finger at the symbol on his chest.

"Yes," said Shego.

"This marks me as Agent Epsilon. I have a letter! Not everybody gets a letter, you know. There aren't enough to go around. I am an important man in this organization. I go on the vital missions, and I report directly to Gemini! You, have no letter. You're just staff," said the now-identified Agent Epsilon.

Shego silently counted to three. She wasn't accustomed to being talked to this way by anyone, and she found herself wondering what Agent Epsilon would look like with his head shoved clear through the room's back wall. After taking a careful breath she responded, "So I shouldn't have asked you for directions?"

"You shouldn't interrupt the very important work I'm doing," said Epsilon.

As Shego was attempting to figure out the proper response to this, a voice sounded from behind her. "Speaking of important work, Agent Epsilon," said the voice. Shego recognized the speaker immediately. It was Agent Alpha, also known as Masuyo Ichikawa.

Epsilon's face paled. He turned to Shego and snapped an order. "Attention!"

Shego was glad to obey, straightening her posture ram-rod straight and keeping her eyes faced forward. It gave her a good excuse not to turn around. It was just barely possible that Alpha would fail to recognize her if he saw her only from the back, but if he saw her face the jig would be up.

Though she never would have admitted it to anyone, butterflies filled Shego's stomach. Sensei had doubted her ability to beat Masuyo in a straight-up fight, and here in a fortress filled with WWEE soldiers would be just about the worst possible place to fight him. It wouldn't be like a fight with Kim, either. Losing would have… consequences.

Reassured by having exerted his authority over 'staff', Epsilon turned his attention back to Agent Alpha. By pure coincidence, Shego realized that Epsilon was positioned perfectly for Shego to see Agent Alpha's reflection in his sunglasses. It was difficult to make out clearly, but it appeared that Alpha was in his usual ninja garb. Shego could make out four indistinct figures standing behind the ninja.

"What can I do for you, Agent Alpha?" said Epsilon.

"It would please me if you could deliver the completed Markov report. With a due date of yesterday, so unfortunate that it does not already rest on my desk. That I must depart from my schedule to come here and ask you for it; very poor sign," said Alpha in a mild tone.

"I've been delayed by circumstances beyond my control! So many of the staff need my guidance," said Epsilon, gesturing wildly in Shego's direction. "I promise I'll get it to you by the end of the day."

"It is to be hoped. Do not worry if you cannot succeed, Agent Epsilon. Perhaps reports are not your strength. They are not mine. I am currently training Lord Gemini's new Twin Squad. I can always ask Gemini that you be relieved from your other duties to assist," said Alpha.

In the reflection of Epsilon's sunglasses, Shego could see Alpha move back into an indistinct blur. However, he gestured for one of the four figures behind him to step up into his former position, presumably so that Epsilon could get a better view. Shego could see that it was a woman wearing some sort of a jumpsuit and a helmet that concealed most of her face.

"I'm not that great of a fighter," confessed Epsilon, looking puzzled.

"Oh, your American-style humor. Of course it would be your honor to help as a mobile target. Good day, Agent Epsilon. I look forward to the report," said Alpha.

Alpha started to move away, then stopped and looked at Shego's back. Something seemed to tickle his mind as being… familiar, but whatever it was refused to congeal into anything coherent. He couldn't place the source of the feeling, not even sure if it was due to the woman standing in front of Epsilon's desk or something else in the room. _Perhaps… no, I had better get back to the training. I don't have a lot of time to get this 'Twin Squad' ready_, he thought.

As Alpha led his 'Twin Squad' away, Epsilon occupied himself hyperventilating. Shego couldn't resist the temptation to take a quick peak out the office door down the corridor at their retreating backs. The women appeared as identical as you might expect from a group called 'the Twin Squad', though since Shego was seeing them only from the rear, the effect might have been merely due to similar builds and matching uniforms. Their jumpsuits were tight black leather and the helmets appeared to conceal the upper half of their face, at least from the brief glimpse Shego got.

Shego stepped back inside the office just as Epsilon regained controlled of himself. "Who ordered you to report to Drakken's detainment cell, anyway?" he said.

Shego smiled. "Why, it was Gemini himself… _sir_. But if you're too busy to give me directions, well I'm sure he won't blame anyone but me for me being late. Don't you think?"

"Well I… Let me just take a moment to give you those directions," said Epsilon.

* * *

The light inside his cell flickered as Drakken held the capacitor against the exposed wiring. His insulated gloves prevented him from taking a shock as he manually jammed the wire against the input lead. After a moment, he sighed and held up the small device.

Regrettably, this small capacitor and a wire-scraping tool were all he had been able to sneak out of the lab. Still, it was high-capacity. If he jammed it directly into someone's exposed skin, it would… not knock them out. Drakken couldn't fool himself about that. It might make them woozy enough for Drakken to hit them over the head or something, though. Of course, where he would go and what he would do after that was open to question. Drakken was sure that when the time came to decide, inspiration would strike.

Now there was just the matter of deciding whether to try and trick the guards into coming inside ahead of schedule or wait for his regular water ration. Decisions, decisions.

A soft thump outside his cell made Drakken look up. For a moment nothing happened, then the viewing panel in the door slid open. Drakken scrambled to hide the capacitor behind his back. "It's not a zoo in here, you know! How about a little privacy?" he shouted.

The face that peered through the viewing slot, however, wasn't that of one of Gemini's henchmen. It was Shego. As per usual, she had a faintly disgusted expression on her face.

"Shego! Gemini told me he left you trapped next to a bomb and that you were blown up," said Drakken.

"You must be relieved," said Shego.

"Not really, no," answered Drakken.

Shego's face twisted in rage, and she shut the viewing panel with more force than was strictly necessary. There was just enough of a pause for Drakken to wonder if she had left entirely, and then the cell door swung open. Shego was revealed to be standing over the unconscious forms of Drakken's two guards, holding the electronic key to the jail cell in her hand.

"After all I've gone through to come get you, I can't believe you have the nerve-" began Shego.

Drakken waved his hands in front of himself in a 'warding off' gesture. "No, no, no! Not how I meant it at all. I was upset at first, I assure you, but after I had time to think about it, I never doubted that you had escaped," he said.

Shego looked skeptical.

"Well, think about it. How many times have I left Kim Possible tied up in a death trap, only to have her escape and thwart my plans? You're at least as good as her, right? Blown up indeed! I wouldn't believe that unless I'd picked through the pieces myself," said Drakken.

This gave Shego pause. "As nice as it is to know I have your confidence, you ever think maybe you could learn a lesson from that Kim Possible thing? You know, that maybe it would be a good idea to do things a little… differently?"

Drakken considered. "So you're saying that I need to use better death traps? I'm trying my best here, Shego!"

"That's not what I- Whatever. Here, let me get that collar off you," said Shego. She moved forward to deal with the collar around Drakken's neck.

Before she could touch it, though, Drakken casually tapped his finger against the collar, causing it to separate into two pieces and fall away. "Oh, I disabled that hours ago. Cheap construction, Shego. Not quality," he said.

"Right," answered Shego, a tiny bit impressed in spite of herself. She took a moment to study Drakken. He looked haggard, and she was pretty sure that he was wearing the same clothing as when he'd been kidnapped. Various strands of his hair had escaped from his mostly intact ponytail and were sticking in the air in random directions. Painful-looking darker blue patches of skin around his neck hinted that his collar had been active before he had managed to disable it. Strangely, though, he had somehow managed to shave.

Drakken brushed off his coat and then walked briskly out of the cell. He bent down and grabbed a gun from one of his unconscious guards, holstering it in his jacket pocket.

"So I figure we can sneak down to the flight deck and steal a shuttle out of here. With a little luck, we'll be gone before Gemini realizes you've been busted out," said Shego.

This suggestion caused a strange reaction from Drakken. He tapped his open-palmed hand against the wall a few times, looking unusually thoughtful. Finally he spoke. "I'm not going anywhere, Shego."

"Drakken, I've had enough of the crazy today. We both know that you're going to rant and rave and then you're going to beg me to help you escape. So seeing as how I had to spend six hours hiding in a packing crate to get up here, how about you just save the speech about your big revenge for the trip home?" said Shego.

"I mean it! Gemini stole my invention, kidnapped me, and now he's on the cusp of using my creation to conquer the world. I won't stand for it, Shego. Gemini will rue the day he trifled with Doctor Drakken," said Drakken, straightening up and looking Shego in the eye.

"He's not going to conquer the world. Global Justice or Kim Possible or somebody will stop him," said Shego.

"Somebody _will_ stop him. Me! I'll stop him," shouted Drakken.

Shego paused. "You're serious, aren't you?" she said.

"Deadly serious. The world is mine to conquer and no one else's. I will not turn tail and run away," said Drakken.

"Doctor D, seeing as how you're crazy and I'm sane, you really ought to listen to me here. Right now, you are in the middle of the headquarters of the Worldwide Evil Empire. Gemini has hundreds of armed henchmen, plenty of gadgets to help him hurt people, and his pet ninja. You have no henchmen and you don't have any of your inventions here with you. Are you _seeing_ the problem yet?" said Shego.

"It doesn't matter. I'll defeat that pompous- pompous, arrogant…. I'm the greatest genius on earth. I'll defeat him using my brains and my hands," said Drakken. He flexed his hands in the air to demonstrate, thought the effect was somewhat ruined by how tiny they were.

"I'll defeat him with my brains and my hands," mimicked Shego in the most sarcastic, mocking tone she could manage. "That's the stupidest plan you've ever come up with, and that's saying something. Remember it's my job to tell you when you're being stupid?" said Shego.

Drakken crossed his arms. "And it's my prerogative to disregard you. In case you've forgotten, I'm the one in charge here."

"Oh… oh, are you under the delusion that I'm coming with you on this suicide run of yours? Because, no. Not doing that. Let me admit something. I like my job. Most of the time, when I'm not rescuing you from people leading evil organizations, it's a fun job. I get to steal things, have some nice fights, and do some world traveling. Not too bad a life. The fact that I like my job is why I'm bothering to have this stupid argument with you. But it's just a job. I'm not going to get killed over it, and I'm sure not going to die trying to save you from your own stupidity," said Shego.

Drakken looked away in silence for a moment. He sniffed slightly. "Harsh words, Shego. Harsh words hurt. It doesn't change anything, though. As they say, a man has to do… what a man has to do. I'll consider this to be your resignation. Please have your things clear- cleared out of the lair by the time I-" He stopped and sniffled. "Cleared out by the time I get back."

Shego just stared at Drakken, her arms crossed.

Drakken turned away from her, then immediately whirled back around again. "And just so you know, you are _not_ in my will. I didn't want to tempt you," he said.

Shego gave a little nod of acknowledgement.

Drakken turned and began to slowly walk away.

"You should really rethink this, Drakken," said Shego.

Drakken kept walking.

"This is not a good idea, Doctor D," said Shego, trying again.

Drakken kept walking.

"Drew Lipsky," said Shego, raising her voice.

At this, finally, Drakken turned. "Don't call me that!" he snarled.

"I called you that because I'm trying to get through to any sane part of Lipsky that might still be in there. This isn't like going off to fight Kim Possible. They're not going to hit you over the head and dump you in a nice comfy jail cell. Drew, these people will kill you. They'll kill you, and then you'll just be a small, pathetic dead man named Drew Lipsky. What's the point of that?" said Shego.

"You're wrong, Shego. When they kill me, I'll be a dead man named Drakken, greatest genius in the world. If I ran away, I'd just be pathetic Drew Lipsky. On the whole, I think I'd rather be a dead Drakken than a live Lipsky. Goodbye, Shego," said Drakken. Then he stepped out the door and was gone.

Shego clenched and unclenched her fists. It took a lot of training to be able to do that without digging her sharpened claws into the palms of her hands, but she was after all a woman of great skill. Frustration overwhelming her, she summoned her plasma and slashed open the wall beside her. She tore the cell door off its hinges. The very air around her began to superheat. None of it made her feel any better.

"It's just a job, it's just a job, it's just a job," Shego repeated to herself. It had been a good run with Drakken, but there were plenty of other people out there who would pay top dollar for her skills. Hadn't she always known it would end this way, anyway? Drakken was crazy. That had been obvious from the beginning. Sooner or later, his madness was bound to take him somewhere it would be suicidal to follow. The only surprise was that it had taken this long.

It was sad, admittedly. Drakken had been fun to banter with. He never seemed to take her insults seriously, and he gave as good as he got. Well, almost as good. It was pathetically cute, the way he always called for her to show her something he thought was neat, even though it wasn't usually neat at all. It was even fun, in a way, just to hang out near him, listening to him be all enthusiastic about his work while Shego tried to keep her claws extra-sharp.

Bah. Drakken was an idiot. He was crazy. He was bad-tempered, poorly-groomed, and evil.

"And he's sort of my friend," said Shego.

She clapped both hands across her mouth when she realized she had said that aloud.

* * *

Once around the corner, what remained of Drakken's confident posture collapsed. Without Shego, he didn't stand a chance. Without Shego, this really was a suicide mission.

Drakken wondered what it would be like to be dead. Before he could stop himself, he had theorized three separate hypotheses, as well as an experiment to settle the matter once and for all. Not that he would have time to set any of it up before he died. Quick as _that_ thought passed through his head, he began imagining all the different ways Gemini could kill them.

Drakken began cataloging them. Short and painful, long and painless, short and painless, and long and painful. The last category was the largest, and Drakken found himself subdividing into methods involving carnivorous animals and methods that didn't involve carnivorous animals. As a scientist, he always took great comfort in having things properly cataloged.

Without thinking about it, Drakken had been following a trail of fresh, cool, air that was blowing through a cross-corridor. Still in his daze, he turned towards the source of the breeze. The hall appeared to dead-end at a half completed section of safety railing, though top two horizontal bars had been left out. Drakken stepped over the lower railing and examined the ground, trying to find the source of the air. It didn't seem to be coming from the walls, so logic dictated that it must be from the ground.

_Oh, I get it now. This isn't decking at all. It's a porous cardboard composite designed to be air permeable. They must be using the backwash from the jets keeping this fortress in the air to circulate air directly into these corridors. What a clever design! The only thing I can't figure is, how can a composite surface like this be strong enough to support a man of my weight_, thought Drakken.

There was a cracking noise.

"Uh-oh," said Drakken as the floor collapsed away beneath him.

Apparently safety and health inspections and even things like unfinished safety railings were not a priority on the WWEE airship.

For all his bad luck, Drakken managed to grab onto one piece of good luck. Quite literally in fact. When laying down the porous cardboard composite, the construction crew had nailed strips of cloth across the expanse of the decking to support the cardboard while it dried. Even as he fell to his nigh-certain doom, Drakken managed to gain a one handed grip on one such piece of cloth, leaving him dangling over the dark sky below.

Drakken took stock of his situation. The edge of the deck above was out of reach of his free hand. He was maintaining his grip on the cloth only by dint of having one hand completely entangled in it. Trying to grab it with his free hand failed to provide enough of a grip to pull himself farther up. He couldn't see the ground below him in the darkness, but it was virtually certain to be a lethal fall, assuming of course that he didn't get sucked into the jet turbine keeping the ship aloft on his way down.

There was only one thing to do. "Shego!" yelled Drakken. "Shego! Shego!" he tried again.

There was no response, and Drakken heard what sounded like an ominous ripping noise coming from the cloth.

"Shego!"

No response.

_So this is it, I'm going to _die, thought Drakken. _Some genius I am. Of course… I haven't really tried to save myself, have I? Yelling for Shego to help me isn't much of a plan. I got myself into this mess after all. I can figure a way out._

First step was to take inventory of all the resources he had to work with. Drakken patted himself down with his free hand. All his tools had been confiscated. He had the wire scraper and the capacitor, but they wouldn't be much use. He had the gun he had picked up earlier, but that wouldn't be any use unless he wanted to shoot himself on the way down, and Drakken was hardly the suicidal sort. Why, Gemini hadn't even bothered to take away his belt before locking him up, and everyone knew prisoners could use their belts to-

His belt!

Frantically, Drakken unbuckled his belt using his free hand. Once loose, he thumbed the buckle until it locked into place, forming a hook. Gemini had confiscated all his electronic toys, but Drakken's long-ago tinkering with his belt had gone undetected and forgotten. Now it was just a matter of hooking the bottom rung of the unfinished safety rail….

About a minute later, an exhausted Drakken pulled himself over the edge of the deck and rolled under the railing to lie on the floor, exhausted. His eyes were closed, so the first notice he had that he wasn't alone was sound of slow, formal, clapping.

Drakken opened his eyes to find Shego staring down at him. She was still giving him a slow clap, but as he looked at her she gradually let it trail off.

"How long were you here?" asked Drakken, when he had recovered his wind.

"Pretty much the whole time," said Shego.

"You heard me calling for help," said Drakken, forcing himself to get to his feet.

"Yep," said Shego.

Supporting himself with one hand against the wall, Drakken used his other hand to draw the gun and point it at Shego. "Then why didn't you help me?" he yelled.

"Because. If you can't even get yourself out of an air shaft without my help, then we stand no chance against Gemini, so saving you would have been pretty pointless," said Shego.

"I don't care if you- Wait, did you say 'we'?" said Drakken.

Shego rolled her eyes and looked uncomfortable. "Yes. Yes I did."

"So you're going to help me go after Gemini? You're going to help me after all?" asked Drakken.

"That's the plan," said Shego with obviously faked enthusiasm.

"Why?" said Drakken.

There were a great many things Shego could have said in response to this. Some were heartfelt, some were sarcastic. Some would have revealed a great deal to Drakken about what she truly thought of him, and some would have entirely misled him. True to her nature, though, Shego chose to go with something unoriginal, yet appropriate.

"Because as _somebody_ once said to me… I like to think of us as sort of an evil family. So if you need me, here I am," said Shego.

Drakken realized he was still pointing a gun at Shego. He returned it to his pocket. "But… You were willing to let me fall to my death just a minute ago," he said, trying to understand.

"Yeah, well that's where the 'evil' part of 'evil family' comes in. Do you want my help or not?" said Shego.

"Yes. Yes, I do Shego. Now come, we need to get moving," said Drakken. He walked back out to the corridor and took his bearings.

"Do you actually have any ideas on where we're going to go next?" said Shego, coming up beside him.

Drakken picked a direction and began walking. He looked over at Shego, keeping pace beside him and said, "Ideas? Oh, I have a few…."

* * *

Author's Notes:

If it helps, visualize that final scene as one of those television 'power walks', where the characters are headed straight towards the camera, clothing blowing in the breeze.

Wow. Much less of the funny in this chapter, wasn't there? I mean, I snuck in a few humorous bits here and there, but this was the drama and action-adventure build-up chapter. Hope it was enjoyable nonetheless.

I had a lot of fun writing Shego's infiltration of WWEE HQ.

I'll tell you a little secret. All that bit that came after Shego got Drakken out of his cell? I've had that outlined in detail for months, ever since I started "Not Quite Heroes". It wasn't quite written out, but I knew pretty much exactly what the characters were going to say and do and why they were going to say and do it. Especially Shego's slow clap after Drakken pulled himself out of trouble. (Though having him actually point a gun at her was a bit of improvisation.)

I've been saying pretty much since I started watching 'Kim Possible' that Shego and Drakken are in many ways this dark, twisted reflection of Kim and Ron. I was surprised, though, at how many parallels crept up between this chapter and the one immediately preceding it. Parallels I didn't even set out to put it. Both the similarities and the differences between Kim's rescue of Ron and Shego's rescue of Drakken are, I think, rather interesting.

Next chapter, Shego and Drakken against all of WWEE! Damn, I've really written myself into a corner with that one, haven't I? We'd better go on straight to review acknowledgements.

Thanks to: Jezrianna2.0, campy, Eva91, Spiffy Tiffy, Corencio, Tito (), and TexasDad.

Jez, in answer to your question… The computer does not in fact speak French. I think that says it all.

Eva91, there's your reaction to Drakken thinking Shego was dead. Which is to say, he didn't.

I'm sorry when I do have grammar errors. I try to read through everything once, but it's tough to proof your own work.


	10. Fear Not

An alarm blared and wall-mounted lights flashed on and off throughout the hanger bay. On a catwalk above the main floor, one dark-haired henchman shouted through a bullhorn held to his mouth.

"All available troops, report to the hanger floor. Go directly to the hanger floor. The intruder is to be captured at all costs. Do not let her get away," he said, the bullhorn amplifying his voice to carry all the way across the bay.

Shego leaped back from a dozen onrushing WWEE henchmen, landing in a handstand midway up a pile of crates. She immediately pushed off with her arms, coming down feet-first on the highest crate of the pile. Already WWEE operatives were scrambling up the crates in an attempt to reach her.

With a malicious grin, Shego used the advantage of higher ground to drop several plasma bursts directly on top of her pursuers, scattering them across the floor and setting some of the crates on fire. She then turned and jumped, vacating her 'queen of the hill' position only seconds before a henchmen who had managed to locate a sidearm pumped several bullets near the space where she had been standing. Landing on the wing of a nearby air-shuttle, Shego ran up it and over the passenger cabin, dropping out of sight on the other side.

"Do not use projectile weapons!" insisted the individual on the bullhorn. "There's too much potentially explosive equipment here. Shock batons only."

"Or go ahead and try some guns!" said Shego, suddenly appearing behind the henchmen with the sidearm, despite there being no obvious way she could have crossed the deck area to him without being seen. She struck him on the head, knocking him unconscious. "You chumps don't worry me," she said.

"Yes, very good, hit her with the forklift!" shouted the henchman with the bullhorn, still attempting to direct operations.

It was enough for Shego to glance behind herself and see twin forks barreling down upon her. She had failed to notice its approach due to the fact that it was a high-tech hover forklift, floating nearly silently a foot above the deck when in use. Shego responded by executing a vertical leap that took her high enough to pass over the forks and drive feet-first into the passenger seat. She knocked the WWEE operative driving the vehicle out of his seat and replaced him at the wheel.

"Hey, this is a pretty smooth ride," announced Shego. She began using the forklift to chase henchmen around the bay, knocking them around like bowling pins.

Unfortunately, her joyride gave one group of operatives enough time to organize themselves. Marching in formation, they mounted a group attack on the forklift. Dividing in half, one group attacked the forklift from the side with their shock batons, disabling the engine. As Shego leaned down to let loose a barrage of plasma blasts at them, the other group attacked her from the other side. Several electrical jolts hit Shego in the side, causing her to tumble from her perch.

Shego tucked into a roll and popped up to her feet. Using a combination of punches and kicks, she scattered a few of the henchmen who had fallen out of formation and made a break for it. The others formed a line shoulder-to-shoulder and took up pursuit. More henchmen began streaming in from all corners of the bay, joining the formation and increasing its size. Shego was forced further and further back. She attempted to break a hole in the ranks with plasma blasts, but the henchmen were able to parry using their shock sticks.

Soon, inevitably, Shego was forced into a corner. A wall stretched above her, with no convenient handholds and no place to go. WWEE henchmen surrounded her on three sides. They stood silently for a moment, hefting their stun rods, electricity crackling from the tips. There were a lot of them, more than Shego could conveniently count, and her side still hurt from where they had shocked her before. She raised her hands and flexed her fingers, making sure the claws built into her gloves hadn't slipped out of alignment.

_This is it. Only one thing to do now_, thought Shego. A calmness descended upon her.

Screaming a wordless battle cry, Shego ignited green plasma fire around her hands and charged the army of henchmen.

* * *

**Earlier**

"Where _is_ everybody?" muttered Shego, keeping a watch up and down the corridor. "Someone should have hit the alarm by now. These guys are nearly as bad as the idiots you usually hire."

Drakken's eye twitched. His patience for Shego's put-downs was somewhat less than usual. With effort, he controlled himself and answered. "These corridors are empty for a reason, Shego. I haven't exactly been able to wander around freely, but I estimate this flying fortress of Gemini's is grossly undermanned. It can hold perhaps five to ten times as many troops as Gemini has on station. That probably means they don't check up on each other very often."

"Maybe," said Shego.

"Clearly Gemini is very frugal. Don't pay for anyone more than you need," said Drakken.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," said Shego sarcastically. "Or maybe, just maybe, he has trouble getting new recruits. I used to think you were pretty hard on henchmen, but all you do is cheap out on the paychecks and use them for experiments. From what I can tell, Gemini can't get to sleep at night unless he's killed one of his guys as a lesson to the others."

"We all have our theories, Shego," said Drakken dismissively.

They came up to a wall panel consisting of a monitor screen and a keyboard. Drakken punched a few keys and a multi-layered map appeared on the screen, with a small red dot indicating their position.

"You can call up a map on that those things!" said Shego, surprised. She clapped a hand to her forehead, reflecting on how much simpler things would have been if she had known about that feature an hour ago.

"It's a big ship, Shego. What, did you think the WWEE troops had to ask directions every time they wanted to get somewhere?" said Drakken, still punching keys to call up more information.

"No!" said Shego defensively. "I mean, of course I knew. I was just surprised you knew, is all."

"You see, here we are. We're down the corridor from the laundry rooms," said Drakken, tapping the map with his finger.

Shego sighed, then grabbed Drakken's finger and moved it a few inches. "You're looking at the wrong level. We're two floors up."

"Oh. Well, I'm a scientist, not a cartographer," said Drakken.

"Riiight," said Shego.

Drakken growled. "Did you bring one of my computers with you? Tell me you managed at least that."

"Regular prison doesn't wig you out this much," replied Shego tartly. She pulled out a device approximately the size of a compact and handed it to Drakken.

"Regular prison doesn't put me in a _shock collar_, Shego," said Drakken. He pulled several wires loose from his mini-computer and hooked them up to the access panel in the wall. After typing for about a minute, the symbols altered on the map screen, becoming larger and a different color. "That should be easier to read," said Drakken.

"Mmmm, I'm trying to decide if that's the pettiest thing I've ever seen you do. See, this is what makes me lack confidence in our ability to take on Gemini's private army. When you do things like that," said Shego. She narrowed her eyes and flexed her claws.

"That was a test of my control over the system. I assure you, I have a plan," said Drakken. He assumed a confident pose and began typing again. The map disappeared and Gemini's image appeared on the screen. "Perfect. The vain fool left me plenty of recordings to work with."

"What exactly is the plan?" said Shego.

"You said it yourself. We can't take on both Gemini _and _his private army. So we'll gather up his henchmen in one place and take care of them first. Then we'll go get my invention back," said Drakken, typing furiously.

"Not completely a bad idea," said Shego in approving tones. "Just do me a favor and hurry it up. Undermanned or not, it's not going to be too much longer before they catch on to us."

* * *

Agent Alpha clapped his hands twice. At this signal, two members of the Twin Squad walked out on to the mat and began moving towards each other. Still wearing their helmets, the identical female forms reached out to grapple each other. Alpha moved in for a closer look, prepared to correct their stances. As he came up behind them, though, a sudden flash of realization was triggered.

_Wait… Back in Epsilon's office, the henchwoman he was speaking to was the one who caused the feeling of recognition I could not place. I did not see her face, but now I know… that was Shego! _thought Masuyo Ichikawa.

He barked an order and gestured for the Twin Squad to form up behind him, then headed out of the practice room. He considered hitting the all-points alarm immediately and alerting the entire fortress. It would be a foolish waste of an opportunity, though. If Shego did not know they were on to her, then he and Gemini could lay a trap. A delay of a few moments until he could alert Lord Gemini would hardly matter.

That was the explanation that Masuyo gave himself. An unacknowledged consideration was that it was simply against his nature as a ninja to broadcast information so widely, even to the ship's henchmen. Let Gemini make that decision, if it was what he wanted.

Soon the door to Gemini's office loomed ahead. Just as Alpha reached out to grab it, the video screen on a nearby wall blinked to life. Gemini appeared on it. "Battlestations! All crew to battlestations. All non-vital personnel are to report to the hanger bay immediately. The intruder Shego has been sighted. You are to capture her alive for questioning. Again, all non-vital personnel are to report to the hanger bay immediately to capture Shego," said Gemini's image, which then vanished. Immediately after, the alert alarm began ringing.

Agent Alpha opened the door, only to find himself looking down the barrels of the mini-missile launchers built into Gemini's mechanical hand. Alpha froze. "It is only me, Lord Gemini."

"Is it? Are we sure about that?" said Gemini, his aim not wavering.

"I… do not know what you mean. Do you wish me to go to the cargo bay and assist with Shego's capture, as you ordered?"

"I ordered no such thing."

"But on the screen you…. Oh," said Alpha, comprehension dawning.

Gemini looked at his minion for several seconds, then lowered his hand. "Well, come in then."

Alpha entered Gemini's office, the Twin Squad following behind him. "If the announcement was a fake, should you not send out a message countermanding it?"

"Oh, should I really? Incredible, I never considered that," said Gemini, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Unfortunately, whoever faked the announcement did something to snarl up the system afterwards. I can't transmit ship-wide."

"Your men are being lured into a trap. I will go to the cargo bay and deal with it personally," stated Agent Alpha, starting to draw a sheathed blade.

"No."

"Eh?" grunted Alpha, confused.

Gemini slammed the palms of his hands against the desktop. "I sense Dr. Lipsky's hand in this. Shego must have freed him. Well, let them tire themselves out against my troops. I know where he'll go in the end. He'll try to take back his precious invention, and when he does… we'll be there waiting for him."

"But… we are on the eve of battle. Do you not need your men for the attack upon the city?" questioned Alpha.

Gemini laughed. "Lipsky has kindly made sure that everyone vital is at battlestations and ready. The others would have been useful for an invasion, but I can rain down destruction without them. You see…. Project Firebreak is fully operational."

"You mean-" began Alpha.

"We are now untouchable," finished Gemini.

* * *

The field headquarters of the Global Justice Network was a hive of activity. Agents moved back and forth, carrying messages, discussing plans, and studying images on view screens. All action stopped for a moment, however, when the door at the back of the room slammed open with a loud bang.

The merchant captain who had unloaded the cargo destined for WWEE headquarters strode into the room. She pulled off her oversized eyepatch, which turned out to cover a much smaller eyepatch underneath. She tossed aside the wig of long dark hair she wore, shaking free her natural short brown hair. Finally she doffed the long naval coat, revealing her Global Justice uniform underneath. "I want reports," said Dr. Director, now free of her disguise.

"Dr. Director! We expected you back hours ago," said an aide rushing up with a clipboard of papers. He handed the clipboard to Dr. Director.

"I was worried I was being observed, so I had to stay in character longer than planned to throw off any WWEE spies. Was the emplacement successful?" she asked.

"Yes sir! Our locator began transmitting fifteen minutes ago. Your mission to slip a tracker on board the ship through their supply shipment was a complete success."

"And what is the status of our agents?" said Director, studying the clipboard with one narrowed eye.

"Operatives are armed and prepared. Troop carriers are almost ready for launch. We're going to catch them by surprise and wrap up their entire operation," said the aide with enthusiasm.

"I hope you're right, but if there's anything I've learned over the years-"

"Sirs!" came a cry from a GJ agent at one of the monitoring stations. "Monitoring reports that the WWEE helicarrier has gone on high alert and canceled its cloak. There're ready for a fight!"

"It's that nothing ever goes quite like you planned," finished Dr. Director. "Something must have tipped Sheldon off."

"Sheldon?" said the aide, confused.

"Gemini's real name," said Dr. Director in a disapproving tone. "You really ought to read those files more carefully."

"Er, yes sir. Do we cancel the operation?" asked the aide.

"No. My brother is up to something, and we must stop him, whatever the cost. Proceed as planned," said Dr. Betty Director.

* * *

**Resume Scene – Hangar Bay**

Shego charged the mass of WWEE troops, hands aglow with her power. Just before she reached range of their stun rods, the plasma disappeared from around her right hand as she palmed a grappling hook and thin rope. Leaping straight up into the air, Shego flung the grappling hook upwards, catching a ceiling-mounted cargo hook that had moved unnoticed on motorized tracks to a position directly above. The grappling hook snagged the cargo hook with a metallic clink, and Shego's momentum carried her in an arc skimming over the heads of the henchmen.

The henchmen barely had time to consider pointing their shock sticks upwards when hissing noise filled the air. A cloud of greenish gas was spreading quickly from behind them, covering the floor of that part of the hanger bay in a murky cloud. Pushed forward into a corner as they were, there was nowhere for the henchmen to run to escape the awful green cloud. As it touched each of the henchmen, they collapsed to the ground, twitching.

Meanwhile, Shego climbed her rope, pulling up the slack line behind her to prevent any of the henchmen from attempting to follow her escape route. Within seconds, she was grasping the cargo hook directly. Its motor hummed to life, and it began moving backwards along its track, towards the catwalk mounted on the far wall. When it reached its point of closest approach, Shego began swinging herself back and forth to build up momentum. At the end of her arc, she released the hook and flew through the air, coming close enough to the catwalk to grab the railing. Using only one hand and her remaining momentum, she skillfully swung herself over the railing and landed neatly and safely on her feet.

The bullhorn-wielding WWEE operative ran towards her, still holding his bullhorn up to his face. "Good job, Shego!" boomed his voice.

Shego clutched her left ear with one hand. With her other hand, she snatched away the bullhorn, revealing Drakken's blue face behind it. "What are you trying to do, deafen me?" she snarled.

"Oopsie, my mistake," said Drakken. As he spoke, he took off the WWEE-issue sunglasses and tossed them to one side, then began removing the WWEE jumpsuit he was wearing over his normal clothing.

"So what was with all of that 'no projectile weapons' stuff? Those morons were never going to tag me," said Shego.

"Perhaps that's true-"

"What do you mean, 'Perhaps'!" interrupted Shego.

"But if they were firing at you, you couldn't afford to let them push you into that corner. You know, where we needed them to be so that I could gas them effectively?" continued Drakken, forcing himself to stay calm.

"Okay, you got a point," said Shego. She leaned back against the railing and, incredibly, apologized. "I'm… sorry. It hasn't exactly been a good few days for either of us, has it?"

"An apology? I'll have to note this one down for the scrap book. Not to worry, Shego. This time there's no way we can fail."

"Seems like I've hard that before," said Shego, straightening back up.

"Ah, but this time we shall _try harder_," said Drakken. "Now come on, time to go deal with Gemini."

* * *

Project Firebreak sat in a large control room, cables leading from it to the ship's power and computer systems. A large holographic display showing the WWEE airship and its surrounding airspace was projected over a targeting platform next to the device. Alpha hunched over a security station near the doors, while Gemini looked out a window, his hands crossed behind his back.

Gemini's cell phone began to ring. He pulled it from its belt pouch. "To think, this is what our internal communications have been reduced to," he said before answering. The caller spoke for only a short time. Gemini listened intently before saying, "Yes, I will address the situation," and hanging up.

"A problem, Lord Gemini?" asked Alpha, not taking his eyes off the security screens.

"It seems that Global Justice is launching an attack. Fortunately, we are already at battlestations," said Gemini smugly.

"Can we hold them off?"

"Oh, we can do more than that. With Lipsky's device here, they will be at our mercy," replied Gemini. He stroked the dome of glowing black glass that made up the top of Project Firebreak, then began manipulating the controls.

On the holographic display, a blue glow filled the area around the WWEE airship. A tiny Global Justice jet flew into the glow, then immediately began spiraling out of control and falling. "Hah! Within the field I've set up around the ship, no electronics or combustion engines will work. They can't approach us, and their missiles will fall out of the sky when shot at us. I can even extend the field to target their airships that think they're safely out of range," said Gemini. On the holographic display, glowing blue tendrils shot out, targeting the GJ planes and hovercraft that were trying to stay out of the glowing blue area.

"Lord Gemini. Satisfying as this must be, I must alert you that we are about to have company. Drakken and Shego approach," said Agent Alpha. As usual, his Japanese-accented voice was smooth and unworried.

"Excellent," said Gemini. "You know what to do." He moved away from the Firebreak machine and to another console.

Alpha ordered the Twin Squad to form up with a series of sharp commands. They silently complied. Then he slipped off the hood and mask of his ninja costume and placed them carefully folded on a convenient table. His aging face, complete with vertical scar, stood revealed.

"Too hot in here for you?" said Gemini in mock concern.

"I will honor Shego with my true face, since she was able to remove my mask last time," said Alpha. He pulled out a pair of regulation red WWEE sunglasses and put them on. "You see? I compromise and wear some of the WWEE uniform to show I am your man."

"Oh, yippie," said Gemini in a dry tone.

Before they could consider the conversation any further, the doors blew open, knocked off their hinges by a burst of plasma. In the doorway stood Drakken and Shego. They paused for a couple of seconds, taking in the layout of the room.

"How you doing? We just thought we'd drop in to say hi," said Shego.

"Shego! I was going to make the opening quip," protested Drakken petulantly.

"Well I gave you the chance, but you didn't say anything," replied Shego.

"I was going to. I was just letting the tension build!"

They were interrupted by Gemini clapping his hands together to draw their attention. "As entertaining as it is to watch you two bicker… I believe we were about to have a confrontation here?"

"I've come for my invention, Gemini…. Or should I call you Sheldon Director?" said Drakken.

"Gemini will do fine," replied Gemini, not appearing at all upset.

"Doesn't it anger you that I know your real name? Doesn't it enrage you that I refuse to call you by your chosen title," asked Drakken.

"No. Not really. But back to the matter at hand. You can't have your invention. So sorry," said Gemini.

Shego spoke. "And who's going to stop us from taking it? You think you and _Masuyo_ here can stop me?"

"I think we could, but in fact it's them who are going to stop you," replied Gemini, gesturing at the Twin Squad.

"Who are they?"

Gemini snapped his fingers and made a gesture. All four members of the Twin Squad removed their helmets and shook their hair free. Four copies of one very familiar face looked over at Shego. A very, very familiar face in fact, since the face… was her own. At a command in Japanese from Agent Alpha, green plasma began to glow around their hands.

"Why, they're you… sort of," said Gemini.

Several pieces snapped into place in Shego's head….

(flashback)  
**"Yes, once they figured out what it was supposed to do from some plans I copied. They had me steal some of Dr. Drakken's other technology too, but Firebreak was the main thing. Then after that… Well, you've already guessed the rest," said Carter.**

(flashback)**  
While she was out of it, Gemini walked forward and ran the metal fingers of his artificial hand through her long dark hair. It was a curiously gentle gesture. He then stepped back and began walking away.**

"You cloned me! You stole Drakken's cloning technology, then you stole some of my hair, and you cloned me with it!" screamed Shego. She was so angry, spittle flew from her mouth, and the light and heat from the green plasma glowing around her hands was painful.

"Yes, it was quite the inspired idea, wasn't it?" agreed Gemini. "Agent Alpha, if you please."

Alpha barked several commands, and the four Shego-clones began advancing on the real Shego. She flung several plasma bursts at them, but they countered in unison with plasma of their own, knocking her attacks away and into the wall.

"Foolish," said Alpha. "You can see they share your power. As you will shortly see, they also share considerably in your skills. You are very poor ninja, Shego. A real ninja fights only when prepared, and when he knows he has the advantage."

Soundlessly as ever, the clones attacked Shego. Two led with kicks while a third moved behind her, while the fourth searched for an opportunity to sear her with its plasma-covered hands. Agent Alpha watched from the sidelines in amusement, not lifting a finger.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me," said Drakken, taking a few steps towards Gemini.

"Oh, I'm very sorry," said Gemini. "Here, let me give you some attention." He pressed a button on his control panel, and an overhead fixture suddenly swiveled and pointed its opening at Drakken. From it spewed a stream of acid, striking Drakken directly in the chest. Where it spattered on the floor, the metal smoked and hissed. Drakken screamed, pushed backwards by the force of the acid flow, and fell behind a bank of view screens.

"It's a pity that your employer couldn't- Where are you going!" shouted Gemini at Shego. She had just managed to roll between the legs of one of her clones and make it to the door. Even as he spoke, she was running away at top speed.

"Wise of her to flee. Perhaps she has some ninja in her after all," said Agent Alpha.

"Idiot! Don't just stand there. After her," screamed Gemini.

Alpha nodded and led the Twin Squad in pursuit.

"At least we've taken care of you, Lipsky. Eh?" Even as Gemini started to pontificate, a smoldering blue lab coat was flung at his feet. Surprised as he was, his skills as a fighter were too great to be caught completely off guard. His reflexes and intuitive danger sense caused him to immediately jump behind a convenient equipment bank, thus avoiding the multiple laser shots that followed the coat.

Drakken stepped into view, left in his pants and undershirt after having flung away the lab coat. His hair had come completely unbound from its usual ponytail and it fell freely behind his head. "Lucky for me that I treat all my coats to be resistant to acid. Never know when you'll have an accident around the lab," he said. He then proceeded to fire a quick burst of laser fire at the acid-spewing weapon on the ceiling, and then followed it up by shooting the control panel Gemini had used to activate the weapon.

"No more hidden weapons and tricks. You can face me man-to-man, criminal mastermind to criminal mastermind," yelled Drakken.

An electrical blast knocked the laser pistol of his hand, and Gemini stepped into view, his cyborg hand still crackling from the energy discharge. "Why, you only had to say so, Drakken. Man-to-man, then." He began walking towards the blue-skinned mad scientist.

Drakken considered Gemini's advantage in size, the fact that he was known to be a skilled fighter, and the fact that he was armed with a versatile cybernetic hand. He then considered his odds of winning a one-on-one fight. One word seemed to sum up the situation.

"Yeeouch," said Drakken.

* * *

As Shego fled down the corridors of the flying fortress, Agent Alpha and the Twin Squad pursued. The clones didn't fire plasma bursts at her. Though they had copied Shego's powers, their minds were too weak and unformed to be able to concentrate sufficiently to project green fire while keeping up an all-out pursuit. Alpha pulled a throwing star from a concealed pocket and threw it at Shego's back, but she dodged without even looking back. Not that he had anticipated anything else from someone with her level of skill.

When they arrived at a set of elevators, Shego lost a precious couple of seconds ripping open the doors so that she could jump into the shaft. She made it up, though, since Alpha had to specifically instruct the clones to slide down the elevator cables instead of jumping. It was not a maneuver he had anticipated having to key to a single command word.

At the bottom of the shaft, the lowest level of the ship, Shego again had to pause to rip open the elevator doors with claw and plasma. Again this allowed her pursuers to close in. One of the clones came within inches of digging gloved claws into her shoulder, but she was able to push off with a double-kick to its face, tucking herself into a ball and executing a somersault through a swinging set of double-doors. Alpha and the Twin Squad followed her inside.

"Ah, the cafeteria. There is no escape from here, Shego," stated Alpha. The room was indeed a large cafeteria. One large bay window made up the back wall of the room, giving a decent view of the long drop below. Long tables and benches filled up the majority of the room, with a few vending machines on one side wall and a kitchen on the other. Alpha motioned the Twin squad to herd Shego away from the kitchen and the exit and towards the side wall, where she would be trapped.

"Who says I'm trying to escape?" asked Shego, backing up.

"Please, I had just begun to think better of you. Running when you realize you cannot win; that is the way of the ninja. It is almost enough to make up for your foolishness in showing up in the first place. It is unfortunate that in your unfamiliarity with this facility, you have allowed yourself to be backed into a corner. You should have headed for one of the escape pods. Perhaps you might have gotten away," said Agent Alpha.

The circle around Shego was drawing tighter and tighter. The clones were almost in position to make their move, and they had all summoned green plasma around their hands. Alpha raised two fingers, preparing to give the signal.

"Wrong, ninja-boy. I got a real good look at a map of this place earlier. And I wasn't trying to get away," said Shego. She suddenly turned and ripped the front off a soda machine next to her, her plasma covered claws slicing through the plastic and metal like butter. She grabbed two soda cans from the interior, one in each hand, and punctured their tops with her claws. Then she sprayed the contents on her clones. As soon as the cans were empty, she grabbed two more and repeated the process.

Alpha froze for critical seconds, unsure of what she was trying to accomplish. Then he realized that the clones making up the 'Twin Squad' were quietly melting into small piles of chemical goo. "Carbonated soda… makes them melt?" he said.

"You got it," said Shego smugly.

Alpha couldn't resist letting loose with a heavy sigh. "How am I supposed to do my job properly when critical, important, information like that is being withheld from me?" he asked.

"Not really my problem," said Shego. "Now it's one on one, and I have superpowers. You think maybe it's time for you to listen to your own advice and start running? Please say no, because I'm looking forward to kicking your butt around the room."

"My advice is to never fight without an advantage. But who says that I do not have an advantage?" said Alpha. He made several odd motions, pressing parts of his costume, and a chill white mist began to continuously form around him and drift upwards.

"Kind of wanting to know what that is," said Shego.

Alpha smiled and began advancing on Shego. He drew two blades, one for each hand, and held them in an attack position.

Shego responded by letting loose with a plasma blast directly at Agent Alpha. He didn't even try to dodge, but the plasma seems to dissipate and poof out of existence as it hit the white mist. Despite what should have been a direct hit, it failed to harm him in the slightest.

"Yeeouch," said Shego.

* * *

Gemini punched Drakken in the gut, knocking the scientist back several feet. "What's the matter, Dr. Lipsky? I thought you wanted to fight me 'man-to-man'? Isn't it everything you thought it would be?"

"That's Drakken to you," said Drakken in a weak voice. He ran at Gemini, attempting a roundhouse punch.

Gemini merely leaned back, allowing the punch to pass inches from his nose. He then kicked Drakken's legs out from under him, causing Drakken to fall to the ground. "I do credit you for your courage," he said.

Drakken rolled away and staggered to his feet. "I don't need your approval. I'm Drakken. Do you know how many times the world has trembled at my near-conquest?"

"Now 'near-conquest' would be the same as failing to actually conquer, wouldn't it? Trying and failing many times doesn't make you a success, Drakken. It merely makes you persistent," said Gemini.

"So? It's not like anyone else has succeeded either. I've come closer than anyone else more times than anyone else." As he spoke, Drakken tried to figure out if there was some way he could activate the room's defense systems and use them against Gemini.

"And most of those times, you've been defeated by a teenaged cheerleader, isn't that right? Oh, I've told you how I had a brush with Ms. Possible myself, but she only defeated me with the assistance of my hated sister. You have no such excuse."

"I'll beat her. I just need to… to try harder, that's all," said Drakken.

"So you haven't really been trying up until now?" asked Gemini, actually sounding interested.

"I-" And for a moment, Drakken wondered. It wasn't that he had been not trying or anything, but had he been giving it his all? Had he ever really thrown himself into a plan 100 percent, doing everything and anything to succeed? Hadn't he always had the knowledge, somewhere in the back of his head, that if he failed he could just try again? Maybe it was as simple as that. Kim Possible had to get it right every time, because she knew that if she lost, Drakken would conquer the world. That was what made Possible always give her all, and just maybe, that was why she always won. Well, that and an annoying streak of good luck. But that was off-topic. _What if I_- Drakken started to wonder.

He was jolted out of his epiphany by the feel of cold metal fingers closing around his throat. In his momentary daze, Drakken had failed to notice Gemini grabbing his neck until it was too later. Now he found himself held off the ground by Gemini's cybernetic hand, slowly choking to death.

"You were looking a bit distracted, Doctor. If you aren't going to pay attention, perhaps it's time for both this conversation and you to come to an end. It's a pity. I was serious when I told you that in some ways I admire you, you know. Unfortunately, anyone I can admire is someone who is capable of being a rival. And well… I don't tolerate rivals," said Gemini. He gave no sign of strain at supporting Drakken's entire weight with one arm. If anything, he sounded bored.

Drakken frantically kicked at Gemini, to no effect. With his hands, he clawed at Gemini's arm, trying to pry himself loose. The world began to grow black and dim as Drakken's hands slipped down to the connection point between the flesh of Gemini's arm and the metal of his cybernetic hand. _Those feel like… trigger points_, Drakken thought vaguely to himself. More by instinct than anything else, his fingers slipped into the narrow depressions and pushed in unison.

There was a jolt as the Drakken fell to the floor. Prying at his throat, he managed to loosen the fingers of the metal hand and pull it away. It was at this point that Drakken realized the hand was no longer attached to Gemini. He looked up to see Gemini looking at an arm that ended in a metal stump.

"How did you do that! I always have to use a special tool to hit those itty-bitty detachment points," said Gemini.

"Well you see… I have very small hands. Sometimes comes in handy for the delicate work," rasped Drakken.

* * *

"It might be ancient magic. Or perhaps it's some technological device that the WWEE scientists prepared for me. It's really not in my best interest to give you the details. The important point is that I was prepared to counter your green fire, Shego," said Agent Alpha.

He drove a knife towards Shego's neck. She spun out of the way, pushing against his left arm to block his second knife. The spin turned into a roll, taking her over the top of one of the lunchroom tables and leaving it between herself and her opponent. Without her plasma, Shego was on the defensive. Her claws weren't as effective a threat as Alpha's knives.

"Well doesn't that just make you Mr. Clever, Masuyo," said Shego. She walked to the side, moving down the line of tables. Alpha kept pace with her.

"You know my name. You've been to Yamanuchi to research me," said Alpha.

"They don't much like you there, you know that?" Shego suddenly hopped backwards, landing on the table behind her. Alpha jumped on the table in front of him, and they looked across the benches and aisle at each other.

"I am sure they do not like you either," said Alpha.

"Better than you. Sensei even gave me some advice on how to beat you. What do you think of that?" said Shego.

In answer, Alpha leaped at her. Shego surprised him by jumping at the same time. She slashed at him with her claws as they passed each other in mid-air, hitting him in the leg. Unfortunately, she hit a patch of padding and her claws weren't long enough to penetrate. Alpha meanwhile sliced her shoulder with one of his blades, opening a cut that began dripping blood.

"I think that it will not matter," said Alpha as they recovered, each on the other's table. "I have more experience and training. I have greater skill. Better weapons. I've never lost to an untrained amateur."

Shego broke into a run down to the end of the line of tables, forcing Alpha to follow her. "You're talking about Kimmie, huh?" she said as she leapt off the end and turned to face Alpha. He remained on the last table in his line, choosing to retain the higher ground.

"I am. Talented, I'm sure, but who was her master? Where did she take her training?"

"No one, maybe. I don't know. I think she just sort of picked it up," said Shego. He hands began to glow with plasma. She let loose with a plasma blast, not against Alpha but against the table he was standing on. It blew apart underneath him, forcing him to jump to safety. He chose the safe option, jumping away from Shego.

"You cannot defeat someone who 'picked it up', and you think you can defeat me?" said Alpha. He had landed in the aisle, and he watched Shego back up to put some distance between them.

Shego actually laughed. "You think you're better than her? You and your knives and your little tricks. Listen up, Pointy-sama, you're no Kim Possible."

Alpha made his move. He charged down the aisle, rushing Shego. It left him slightly vulnerable, allowing her to land a punch to his midriff as she dodged aside. That was acceptable, though, as it also allowed him to push her back against the bay window. He stood a few feet away, knowing that whichever way she moved would leave her vulnerable to his knives.

"I am not a cheerleader without the courage to kill? Hai," said Alpha.

Shego glanced to each side, but no escape presented itself. "I mean a hero! You're not a hero. Neither am I. But Kim, she is. She doesn't hold back like you and I do. She doesn't think it's okay to fail. She'll take any risk to beat me. That's why she wins."

"It is time to choose your next move, Shego-san," said Alpha. He tightened his grip on his knives.

"Seems like either way I go, odds are I get a knife in the gut," said Shego. The plasma around her hands blazed to life, as she put all her will and power into it. The fire burned hot, and it was so bright that it seemed there was a greenish second sun in the room.

"Seeking to blind me? I think of everything," said Alpha, nodding his head to cause his WWEE standard-issue sunglasses to shift slightly. "And there is no table underneath me to destroy this time."

"See, that's where you're wrong," said Shego.

"Eh?"

"Maybe I can be a hero one more time, if that's what it takes to beat you," said Shego. She pointed downwards and released her green fire, sending it roaring across the deck beneath both of them. The floor didn't so much burn as dissolve, opening up to reveal the void below.

As they fell into the clouds, Shego couldn't resist shouting the words Sensei had whispered in her ear. "Who Dares, Wins!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Next chapter, the cataclysmic conclusion to "Not Quite Heroes"!

Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know it's been nearly three weeks since the last chapter. I can't even lie and say that things came up, because it was mostly a matter of getting started. Once I got started, the chapter came pretty quickly.

I suppose I'm losing a little momentum on the story, but it's okay. There's only one chapter more to go, plus an epilogue. I should be able to make it to the end. Still, if people could drop a few reviews, it would really help.

Even less humor this time around, but I suppose it's unavoidable. Everything's hitting the conclusion, and there's less room for the funny. I try where I can, though. I hope the fight scenes and plotting were reasonably exciting.

In case you didn't pick it up, Alpha was looking at the rear end of the Twin Squad when he realized where he had recently seen Shego's rear end.

Hmm, can't think of much else to say, so I guess we'll go to acknowledgements.

Thanks to Jezrianna2.0, campy, Corencio, TexasDad. Lil-Lyon, and tito for your comments on the last chapter.

Jez, I hoped you liked what the Twin Squad turned out to be about.


	11. A Strange Feeling

Gemini's boot impacted on Drakken's face. It was a picture-perfect kick. The hard toe of the boot fit neatly just under Drakken's neckline while the top of the foot slammed against his face, leaving an imprint of laces in the flesh of his cheek. For a final indignity the loose end of one of the laces managed to briefly get up Drakken's nose, giving him an urge to sneeze even as the pain began to register. 

It might have been enough to knock Drakken out if he hadn't already been throwing himself backwards. As it was, it left him spinning in place, putting equal effort both to keep from falling down and to keep from releasing his hold on the cybernetic hand he had just detached from Gemini. He shook his head as he recovered his wits.

It was always a toss-up with Drakken whether pain would make him afraid or make him angry. This time, anger won out. "You'll pay for that!" shouted Drakken. He charged Gemini shoulder first, using his entire body as a weapon. Gemini failed to get out of the way in time, partially in surprise at Drakken's sudden aggressiveness and partially because lacking the weight of his hand was putting him a bit off-balance. Drakken hit Gemini in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him back a few steps.

"Now you're getting me angry," said Gemini menacingly. The effectiveness of the threat was somewhat diminished when an electrical blast passed within inches of his face.

"Hah!" crowed Drakken, shaking the detached cybernetic hand in Gemini's direction. "A little taste of your own medicine." He tapped furiously at the hand, obviously trying to get it to fire again, but nothing happened.

"Drakken," said Gemini. He began slowly walking towards Drakken, his left hand held out in a martial arts posture.

"Why won't this thing do what I want it to?" said Drakken in frustration. Missiles appeared from the fingertips of the hand and fired, but sine Drakken hadn't had the hand aimed very well, they passed well clear of Gemini. They did, however, put some impressive-looking craters in the ceiling.

"One, it's designed to be worn. Two, it's designed for me, not you," answered Gemini. He stopped advancing towards Drakken. "I still feel fairly sure I can defeat you, Doctor Drakken, but you are proving quite troublesome."

"Is it really so hard to admit I'm dangerous? Come now, we're the only two around. Just admit it. Say it. Drakken is dangerous," said Drakken.

Gemini pressed his left hand against the eyepatch over his left eye socket. "Yes, fine. You're a dangerous man, Doctor Drakken."

Drakken pulled a miniature tape recorder out of his pants pocket. "Hah! No takebacks. I have it right here on tape. You can't- Where are you going?"

Gemini had retreated to a door on the other side of the room, opposite where Drakken and Shego had originally entered. It slid open for him, revealing a corridor beyond. "As I was trying to say, though I could _probably_ still defeat you, there's no sense in taking foolish chances. I'm going to go get some more weapons and… 'rearm'. You stay here until I get back… not that you have much choice."

With that, Gemini tapped a few buttons on the keypad beside the door. He then hurried through the doorway into the corridor beyond. The door slid closed behind him with a resounding thud.

"You can't run out on me!" yelled Drakken. He flung himself at the door and slammed it with his right fist, but only succeeded in hurting his hand. It was made of metal and very solidly constructed. While waving his right hand in pain, Drakken typed at the keypad with his left. The door failed to respond.

"Owie, owie," said Drakken, his hand still aching. Maybe _it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go find Shego_, he thought to himself.

An unpleasant surprise awaited Drakken when he looked back to where he had entered the room. Even though Shego had blown the original doors off their hinges, a set of very tough-looking security walls had dropped out of the ceiling, blocking the room's other exit. Drakken was trapped. He was trapped, and Gemini would undoubtedly be back soon, better armed and perhaps with more troops.

"Trapped in the lair of a master villain… now let me see, how does Kim Possible always get out of these things? I don't know, I never stick around to watch," said Drakken, talking to himself in his nervousness. He ran his fingers through his long dark hair and squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to think.

After a few seconds, he opened them again. He realized he was looking directly at the glowing sphere of Project Firebreak.

* * *

As she started to fall, a single thought bounced around Shego's head. _That was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done_.

Now that she was in freefall, a half-dozen other ways she could have handled the situation occurred to her. Like maybe blasting the ceiling above Agent Alpha. Or only destroying the floor below him. Or maybe trying to negotiate with him or bribe him, ninja-to-ninja. Or… or…. Of course, while these possibilities all offered a chance of her own survival, none of them gave much certainty to beating Masuyo Ichikawa.

That was what it had all been about, wasn't it? Beating Gemini's big, bad Agent Alpha, beating Yamanuchi's 'bad seed', that was the goal. When Shego decided she couldn't bear to lose, it had been easy to fall back into that old heroic mindset. Do whatever it takes to beat the bad guy and don't think about the cost to yourself. Don't worry, because something will come along and save you, or at the very least let you save yourself. It was the superhero version of karma. Or blind optimism. Take your pick.

Shego spent a half-second taking stock of her situation. It was a dark night, it having been past sundown when she rode the load of crates up to the flying fortress. A strange blue glowing haze filled the air outside the airship, though it wasn't helping her see any better. Shego had no idea what the haze was all about, but it didn't seem to be harming her as she fell through it, so she immediately dismissed it as a concern.

Instead she went straight to trying to save herself. As she pointed her hands straight down and concentrated, brilliant emerald jets of plasma jetted out below her, lighting up the night sky. Her hope was that maybe she could use her glow as a kind of rocket jet, blasting against the pull of gravity enough to slow her fall. She had seen and used rocket packs before, so this couldn't be all that much different, right? It was a good effort, but it fell short in practice. Shego was getting a little thrust as she adjusted the output of her power, but it wasn't nearly enough. The only real outcome was the heretofore mentioned lightshow.

About two and a half seconds had passed since Shego started to fall. She was already approaching the edge of the glowing blue zone around the WWEE flying fortress, and her eyes were fixed downwards, trying to make out what lay below. Maybe if she could manage to hit water and use her powers to break the surface tension before impact, she could survive.

Wait.

Shego cut off her plasma fire in the nick of time and stretched her body out, trying to take the oncoming impact with as much surface area as possible. With a muffled "Ooof," she landed spread-eagled, fabric stretching beneath her as she bounced. As she started to slide down the side, Shego got an extremely close look at the vehicle that had broken her fall.

It was a hot air balloon emblazoned with some sort of design that Shego couldn't make out in the darkness.

Gaining a grip on the balloon was difficult, as Shego didn't dare risk digging the fingers of her clawed gloves in and puncturing the balloon. Instead she had to try and exert pressure with her forearms and legs, scrambling to gain enough traction to stop the slide. It wasn't enough to maintain a stable hold on the balloon, but it did swing her around so that she passed directly by the balloon's basket as she started to fall again. With desperate accuracy, she snagged a loop of rope hanging from the basket. This left Shego dangling by the rope from the balloon's basket.

A figure peered out over the edge of the basket at Shego. For a moment the basket's occupant was in shadow, then a light flashed on, revealing the face of Dr. Betty Director. She moved the light, which proved to be a chemical light tube, down to illuminate Shego's face. "Shego! What are you doing here?" asked Dr. Director.

"Oh, you know, just hanging around," replied Shego dryly.

Dr. Director did not reply for a moment, seemingly considering something.

"So… could I get some help here?" said Shego, getting a two handed grip on the rope.

"I don't need any interference in this mission," said Dr. Director, sounding faintly menacing.

"Oh, hey, no interference here. I'm pretty sure we're on the same side for this one. Now how about pulling me up? Pretty-please!" said Shego

Dr. Director reached down and helped pull Shego into the balloon's basket. Shego breathed a sigh of relief that she hoped Director didn't see, then took a look around. "So a hot air balloon? Kind of low tech for you, isn't it? I thought Global Justice was all about the spy gadgets," said Shego with faint disdain.

"Gemini has put up some sort of energy dampening field around his flying fortress that disables our motorized air transport. I decided to attempt an infiltration of the fortress under cover of night to find the device and disable it. This balloon was the only thing we had on hand that could make it through the dampening field," said Dr. Director. As she talked, she looked out of the basket and up at the fortress.

"So that's what that blue glow is! Oh, and it must be Dr. Drakken's Project Firebreak machine creating it," said Shego, pleased that at having correctly put the pieces together.

"You're saying that Drakken and Gemini have allied themselves?" asked Dr. Director. She started to reach for something hidden behind her back, watching Shego carefully all the while.

"What? Nooo. No, no, Gemini swiped the machine from Dr. Drakken. We came here to get it back, but I got into a fight with Gemini's lead henchman, and we both ended up going over the side," said Shego. She thought for a second. "That leaves Drakken trying to fight Gemini on his own, and last time I saw him he was getting an acid bath. I'd better get back there soon."

"That could be a problem," noted Dr. Director.

"Why?" said Shego.

The head of Global Justice silently pointed up at the flying fortress. Shego looked up and was startled to realize it was now farther away than when she had first gotten into the basket. "We're sinking!" said Shego.

"I didn't account for a second person. We have to lose some weight," said Dr. Director.

Shego shook her head and gave a mock-regretful sigh. "Thanks for the ride, Director, but if one of us is going over the side it's going to be you," she said, the plasma fire around her hands flaring to life.

Dr. Director tugged on a rope, undoing a knot. She released the rope, allowing a sandbag to drop from the side of the balloon. She repeated the process with a second sandbag. "Or we could just drop some ballast," she said.

"Wait, if you could do that, why did you say getting up there would be a problem?" asked Shego.

"I'm afraid the sandbags won't be enough on their own. Luckily, you seem to have the solution in hand," said Dr. Director. In a sudden motion, she grabbed Shego's wrists and shoved Shego's still-flaming hands up the air intake hole of the balloon. "High on the heat, but keep the fire low if you please," added Director.

Shego's mouth twisted in anger at being ordered about, but she complied, using her plasma flame to increase the heat of the air inside the balloon. This effort, plus the loss of the sandbags, proved to be enough to take the balloon upwards and even with an extended wing of the flying fortress. Lines of giant propellers providing lift power extended all up and down the wing.

Shouldering a pack of equipment, Dr. Director leapt from the balloon's basket and onto a flat surface. Shego yanked her hands out of the air intake hole and swiftly followed, leaving the balloon to drift away. The two women looked at each other warily.

"Take me to this Project Firebreak machine," ordered Dr. Director.

"Hold on now. Let's get something straight. I do not take orders from you, and I could care less about why you're here," said Shego.

"As long as we're getting things straight, you're a wanted fugitive and ordinarily I would never work with you," said Dr. Director. She looked Shego straight in the eye, posture stiff, not backing down an inch.

"And you're not going to be working with me now. I'm going to get Dr. Drakken. You do what you want," said Shego.

"Very well. What I 'want' is to shut down the machine generating the energy dampening field."

"Go do that then."

"At least tell me where it is," said Dr. Director.

"It's in the same place that I left Dr. Drakken. And… I'm going there now," said Shego. As she trailed off, she couldn't help but feel slightly foolish.

Dr. Director just looked at her, eyebrow above her good eye rising slightly.

"Fine, you can come along. But I am not protecting you. If you get into trouble, you're on your own," said Shego.

"I'll try to manage," said Director, not sounding too worried.

Shego turned and walked down the wing to the nearest exterior wall. Not bothering to look for an entrance, she made her own with a few swipes of her flaming claws. Revealed on the other side was one of the endless empty corridors that seemed to fill so much of the fortress. She looked back over her shoulder at Dr. Director. "Do I rock or what?"

"Quite," said Dr. Director. She pulled her sidearm from its holster and fired it at Shego.

Shego ducked down and was just about to spring at Director when something fell on her head. She reached up and grabbed it. It was a piece of electrical cable cut at both ends. One end was melted, obviously from her plasma. The other looked like a much cleaner cut, though. Looking up, Shego saw a very short piece of electrical cable dangling just above her head, spitting sparks. "You shot the cable?" said Shego.

"I'm afraid you were careless when you opened up that hole. You cut open a live cable. It was about to drop on you and give you a serious shock, so I fired at it to cut it short," said Dr. Director, replacing her sidearm in its holster.

"Good shot," said Shego grudgingly, not quite able to bring herself to thank the other woman. That out of the way, she climbed inside.

Dr. Director gave a little shrug and followed.

* * *

Da-da-doo-doo.

Kim used her free hand to pull the Kimmunicator from its pouch on her belt. "What's the- Yeoow! What's the sitch, Wade?"

"Are you okay, Kim?" asked Wade, concerned. The camera in the Kimmunicator was showing him a rapidly changing scene as Kim swung about, doing acrobatics while holding it.

"It's no big, but you know that literacy drive that I was supposed to be making an emergency book delivery for?" said Kim. She punctuated her question by punching a robed cultist in the face, then using him as a springboard to reach a balcony that looked out into the stone walls of the room.

"I take it that's not going as planned," said Wade.

Having found a relatively safe place for the moment, Kim finally looked directly into the Kimmunicator. "It turns out that the 'literacy drive' was just a cover for these mystic-type cultists to get a bunch of people to reading their spells at the same time."

Ron appeared on Wade's screen, pressed in close to Kim so that he could talk into the Kimmunicator as well. "While Kim's been kicking cultist bootie, Rufus and I have been reading their leader's notes. They're trying to summon something called the Promethean Giants out of the ocean, and believe me those pictures are not very pretty."

"Sounds like you guys have your hands full. I'll get started researching these Giants. But in the meantime, the reason I called is that we have a break in the whole Gemini-Drakken situation. A giant Worldwide Evil Empire flying fortress just appeared over Chicago. Global Justice is launching an attack, but they aren't having much luck," said Wade.

"Does GJ need our help?" asked Kim. Behind her, Ron turned and seemed to be looking at something.

"No request in so far, Kim. I was thinking you might want to fly in just in case, but it seems like you kind of have your hands full where you are."

Ron's voice floated in from off-screen. "Zombies, KP! They're bringing in zombies. That's just not right."

Kim looked off-screen and shuddered. She returned her attention to Wade. "Can't argue with you on that one. Listen, I'm sure that Dr. Director can handle Gemini, and I'm pretty busy here trying to keep ancient monsters from arising. Call me if anything major happens, okay?"

"You got it Kim," replied Wade just before the Kimmunicator screen went dark.

Back in his room, Wade devoted one monitor to a continuous feed of information on the WWEE situation, just in case. Then he began to search his databases for cross-references of cultists and giants.

* * *

"Hiyah!" screamed Shego and Dr. Director in unison. With twin kicks, they knocked out the two WWEE henchmen occupying the control room.

Shego looked around. "No other exits. Doy, I told you this wasn't the right door."

"The map on that viewscreen was confusing. The symbols were so large they obscured the layout, and the colors didn't match the map key," said Dr. Director. She was more matter-of-fact than defensive.

Shego looked away and bit her lip, somewhat torn. On the one hand this was an opportunity to rip on Drakken by explaining that he had messed with the maps, but on the other hand she hated to give that know-it-all Director an excuse for her mistake. The head of Global Justice was really beginning to grate on Shego, though oddly it was more a matter of what Dr. Director didn't do than what she did do.

She didn't seem affected by Shego's insults and put-downs. She didn't seem frightened, or even angry, at Shego's threats. She didn't back down when Shego tried to bully her, but she didn't particularly try to push back either. In other words, Dr. Director gave every appearance of not being very impressed with Shego. Fear, hatred, and/or a struggle for control were things Shego could handle. If asked, she would have said they were the basis for most of her personal relationships. Indifference, though, that was just plain insulting!

It didn't help that (other than an error reading Drakken's 'improved' maps) Dr. Director was proving to be irritatingly competent. Though Global Justice was a fairly secretive organization, Shego had been around the block enough times to recognize Dr. Director as its head. She had never given much thought to Betty Director, assuming she was just another administrator type, dangerous only for the GJ troops she commanded. It seemed vaguely unfair to Shego that Dr. Director was not only the head of Global Justice, but also personally fearless, a skilled fighter, and (judging by what Shego had seen of GJ troops) probably their single most dangerous secret agent. Why did the leader of Global Justice have to be so good at field work?

"So why is the head honcho of GJ going out on the big important mission? Don't you have people to do this sort of thing for you, or are they all just garbage?" asked Shego, who was not a woman to hide what was on her mind.

"If you were not aware, Gemini is my twin brother. I try to handle cases involving him personally," replied Dr. Director, leading the way down a different corridor.

"Looking after family, huh?" sneered Shego.

"Sheldon is a very twisted and dangerous individual. I have great confidence in my agents, but it requires a special touch to handle him properly… as you and your employer have found out," said Dr. Director.

Stung by the implied idea that she couldn't handle Gemini, Shego shot back. "We're doing fine. But I understand. You must be getting pretty rusty, stuck behind a desk all the time, letting everyone else do the real work. Then your brother comes along, you have to handle it yourself or you look bad, but you're worried you don't have what it takes. You're just lucky I'm in such a helpful mood today.

Dr. Director glanced back at Shego. "I've very aware of my own abilities," she said. She started to turn away, but then she added another comment. "You though Shego, you don't quite match up with your file and the tapes I've seen."

"You've read up on me?" said Shego. She immediately winced at the eagerness in her own voice.

"Of course. You're wanted in over thirteen countries."

Shego straightened up, nodding her head in satisfaction. A little acknowledgement, that was all she had wanted.

"That's how I know you're not operating at one hundred percent tonight. Your moves are slow and sloppy, and your reaction time seems sub par," said Dr. Director.

"What! You're nuts," responded Shego angrily.

"An excellent example. Normally your come-back would be seventy-five percent wittier," said Dr. Director.

Shego gritted her teeth. "It's been a long day. I haven't gotten much sleep," she said.

"I see. Well, if you were 'worried you don't have what it takes', then you're lucky to have me here," said Dr. Director.

At that moment, Shego realized that perhaps Dr. Director had noticed her insults after all. Strangely, this fact didn't improve Shego's mood. "Less blabbing, more running," said Shego, increasing her pace to move out ahead of Dr. Director. Her hands were clenched at her sides, plasma surrounding them.

_And sliding into number one spot of, 'people I really hate'… Dr. Betty Director_, thought Shego.

* * *

Drakken softly whistled to himself as he studied the open panel on the side of his Firebreak machine. He reached towards the exposed wires and carefully began to tug at one. A spark shot out, catching him in the chest. Drakken's usual blue lab coat having been eaten up by acid, there was nothing protecting his chest but a thin white undershirt. He collapsed backwards, hissing in pain.

Sweatdrops beaded on his brow. The butterflies in his stomach seemed to have been transmuted to lead as a terrible weight settled in his gut. Most of all, Drakken felt terribly alone. There was no Shego around to act confident in front, no rival to insult, no heroine prisoner to taunt. He was all alone, with nothing but the knowledge that time was ticking away second by second. It couldn't be much longer until Gemini came back.

There had been other times when Drakken had been afraid, of course. He'd dealt with his share of sticky situations. It was even exhilarating, in a way. The rapid beat of his heart was certainly getting the old blood flowing. It was just that it would have been a lot easier to take with an ally standing over his shoulder. Maybe that was the reason Kim Possible dragged the buffoon along everywhere. It gave her someone to talk to.

Drakken picked himself back up and attacked the wiring again, being more careful this time. He had no tools, no plans, and he wasn't sure that what he was trying to do would even work. It was the only hope he had, though. _Well, this or hope that Shego can defeat her clones and the ninja and get back here to save me_, he thought. Which decent odds she could, but he couldn't count on that.

HmmmmKKKKMMMM

There was a subtle change in the background noise of the machine. _I'm almost there! Just need a little more time_, thought Drakken.

The door at the rear of the room slid open. "You're out of time, Drakken," said Gemini.

_Drat! Why is it my enemies always show up in the nick of time? Is it me? Do I have some sort of probability field that keeps them from ever being a few minutes late? I should investigate that somehow_, thought Drakken. He looked up at the ceiling and bit his lip, momentarily distracted as he tried to figure out what sorts of tests he might run.

Gemini cleared his throat. "Dr. Drakken? Time, you're out of it. Not looking won't make me go away, you know."

Drakken finally looked back at Gemini to see how bad the situation was. It was, in his judgment, pretty bad.

Gemini was wearing some sort of high-tech battle exo-skeleton. Its armor covered most of his body in metal, leaving only his face visible through a tinted faceplate. He was accompanied by four large robots, each about seven feet tall. The robots were roughly humanoid in shape. At the end of one arm, each robot had a spinning buzz-saw. At the end of the other arm, each robot had shield made of some sort of tough-looking alloy that could be deployed to protect themselves from attack.

Drakken looked at the robots, then down at his own empty hands, then back at the robots again. He straightened himself up and looked Gemini directly in the eye. "Mr. Director. Tell me, have you heard the word 'overkill'?"

Behind the faceplate, Gemini smiled. "Dr. Lipsky. Surely you've heard the old villain saying. There's no kill like overkill."

Drakken cocked his head to the side and twiddled his fingers. "Eh… point," he conceded.

Then the security walls blocking the room's other exit exploded inwards in a blast green fire. "Knock, knock!" shouted Shego in a cheery voice.

"Hello Sheldon," added Dr. Director, standing beside her.

"Hello, Betty. Hiring supervillains these days, are you?" said Gemini.

"I don't work for her; we just happened to be going in the same direction. Oh, and you're going to need a new Agent Alpha. The old one's broken," said Shego. She ran towards the center of the room, then let loose with three blasts of plasma. Two of them were blocked by the raised shields of the robots. The third washed over Gemini's exoskeleton without apparent effect.

"Good help is so hard to find. That's why I decided to have some built," said Gemini. He commanded for his robots to attack Shego and Drakken, then lumbered towards his sister, intending to deal with her himself.

Flame covered Shego's claws as she swiped at the lead robot. It moved to block with its shield, proving much faster than most mechanical constructs she had fought in the past. The shield was resistant to Shego's claws, which left only a small scratch in its surface. Shego bent over backwards to avoid the robot's follow-up with its buzz-saw arm. She turned the bend into a reverse-somersault, passing between the legs of a second robot coming up behind her.

Meanwhile, Gemini and Dr. Director began their duel. The exoskeleton made Gemini nearly invulnerable, but Dr. Director was too fast and maneuverable to be easily cornered. She jumped and spun about, pausing to take the occasional spot at what appeared to be weak places in the exoskeleton's construction.

Drakken dove to the side as the combat began. One of the robots went after him rather than Shego, and he played hide-and-seek with it around a console, staying well clear of its buzz-saw arm. After a few moments, he risked taking a glance at how things were progressing.

It wasn't good. None of Dr. Director's shots had done any real damage to Gemini. Meanwhile, Shego was avoiding the robot's attacks by only a slim margin. Sooner or later it was likely she would make a mistake. Drakken realized their only chance was for him to finish putting into effect what he had planned.

That decided, Drakken made a dash back to the Firebreak machine in the center of the room. He called out, "Shego, keep them off me!"

"Keep out of the way, Doc! I am not going to get myself killed over one of your idiot ideas," said Shego.

Drakken stood straight, arms at his side, and a very serious expression on his face. "Shego! I am the brains of this operation, and I am telling you I have a plan. Now do your job and give me the time to win this fight!" That said, he very deliberately bent down at the open access panel on the Firebreak machine, ignoring the robot with extended buzz-saw arm that was moving rapidly towards him.

Shego ground her teeth in frustration. For an instant she seriously considered allowing Drakken to be cut down. It was only for an instant, though. With a scream of frustration, she broke away from her attackers and launched at kick at the robot pursuing Drakken. It raised its shield to defend itself, which was exactly what Shego had been counting on. The force of her kick was still enough to knock the robot backwards. At the same time, Shego used it as a springboard to push herself through the air, landing in front of Drakken.

"Oh, I am so getting a raise out this," she declared.

"A raise?" said Drakken doubtfully. "A small bonus, perhaps." Even as he spoke, he never stopped working.

"You are such a cheapskate," complained Shego. Not able to dodge out of the way lest she leave Drakken vulnerable, Shego had to stand her ground against the on-coming robots. With a series of slams and kicks, she knocked the robots back as they crowded ever more closely around her.

Finally came the moment she had known was inevitable. Caught in mid-air, Shego saw a buzz-saw arm aimed straight at her chest. Unable to change her course to dodge, Shego could only concentrate an intense burst of flame at the hand. She managed to melt it in the split-second before impact, causing the blade to sag and spend its momentum against the frame holding it. Even though this prevented her from being cut in half, Shego still caught a fast-moving lump of molten metal directly to the chest. It slammed her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. Unable to move for a second, she watched as the remaining robots towered above her and began lowering their spinning saws to cut her in half.

"I've got it!" shouted Drakken. There was an ominous hum from the Firebreak machine, and a field of glowing blue light began expanding outwards from it. It quickly engulfed the robots clustered around Shego. The moment the field touched them, the robots froze, motionless. Their buzz-saw hands halted themselves inches from Shego's face, the momentum keeping the blades spinning.

Breathing rapidly, Shego scrambled to her feet. With the robots now helpless to raise their shields, she destroyed them with a few quick swipes of her flaming claws. "That's what we call cutting it close, Doc," she said, relief and irritation intermixed in her voice.

Across the room, Gemini was too involved in his battle with his sister to notice what the destruction of his robots. He looked towards the Firebreak machine just in time to see the blue energy field overtaking him. As he was registering what had happened, the field swept over him, rendering both the exoskeleton and Gemini himself helpless.

Drakken strolled over to the now-helpless supervillain. "I think this is the power supply. Shego, if you would care to do the honors?" said Drakken, wearing a toothy grin.

Shego walked up and destroyed the indicated part of the suit. "Well look who's helpless and at our mercy," she said.

"Yes, the worm has turned, hasn't it Gemini?" said Drakken. He rapped on Gemini's faceplate. "Who's the idiot now?"

"Drakken, you idiot!" shouted Dr. Director.

"What!" said Drakken, confused.

"The engines keeping this airship aloft. What do you think is going to happen when the energy-field from your machine reaches them?" said Director, who had walked over to the Firebreak machine.

"The ship will… crash?" offered Drakken after a moment's thought. An alarmed look immediately appeared on his face. "Uh-oh."

Director drew her gun and fired it at the machine. Nothing happened when she pulled the trigger. "My weapon won't work in this field. Drakken, you have to shut it down."

"That might be difficult. Alternate plan. Shego and I start running now, and we get off the ship before it crashes," said Drakken.

"Now that's a plan I can get behind," said Shego.

"Wait!" called Dr. Director. "There are hundreds of people aboard this airship, not to mention all the damage this ship will do if it falls on the city. Stop the machine, and my Global Justice troops can come aboard and take control."

"That **would** be a good argument… except that I'm a very bad man and I don't care," replied Drakken. He had intended to speak smugly, but when it came out, he realized he just sounded tired.

"Doctor Drakken, please. This isn't part of any plan of yours. You don't gain anything by it. Just for once, can't you do the right thing?" pleaded Director.

"You don't know him very well, do you?" said Shego.

Just as Shego got out the word 'you', Drakken interrupted. "All right," he said.

"What?" said Shego, head snapping around to look at Drakken.

"I said all right," said Drakken. He walked over to the machine. "Shego, if you please? Give me a narrow stream of plasma right here."

"This is so unlike you," said Shego, but she nevertheless walked obediently over to the machine.

Concentrating for a moment, Shego directed her plasma at the spot Drakken had indicated. It burned through the semi-transparent surface of the dome, melting a piece of equipment inside. Immediately the twinkling lights inside the dome dimmed and disappeared, and the blue glow surrounding the machine dissipated.

"Whew," said Drakken.

"Wait, why 'whew'? Why did you just go 'whew'?" asked Shego suspiciously.

"There was a small chance that could have caused the machine to explode," said Drakken.

Shego gritted her teeth and glared.

"Just a small chance," said Drakken. He held up his forefinger and thumb close together to demonstrate just how small the chance really was.

Shego grabbed him by the arms. "Why you-" she began.

"Sheldon!" shouted Dr. Director.

All eyes turned to the door, where Gemini had taken advantage of their distraction to unclamp himself from the exoskeleton. Still missing his cybernetic right hand, he waved at them with his left. "Farewell! We'll finish this another time," he said. Then he turned and began to run.

Dr. Director set off in immediate pursuit, not sparing a second thought for Drakken and Shego.

"She could have at least thanked me," said Drakken, disappointed.

"I suppose now we have to help her chase down Gemini," said Shego, menace in her voice.

Drakken shook his head. "Do you feel like chasing down Gemini? I don't."

"Yeah, he's lost his ship and his latest plan. I say we call it even and go home," said Shego.

"For once, Shego, we're thinking along the same lines," replied Drakken. He gave Shego a much saner smile than his usual maniacal grins.

Shego abruptly realized she was still holding onto Drakken. Without his coat, her gloved hands were clutching his bare arms. She let him, go, giving him a little push as she did it to put some distance between them. "Come on," she said and led the way to the door.

Drakken followed her. "It's a strange feeling," he said.

"What?" replied Shego.

"Feels like… victory," said Drakken.

* * *

Soon the two of them were winging their way back to the lair, courtesy of an aircraft stolen from Gemini's hanger bay. There had been some difficulty getting past the incoming Global Justice ships, but Shego's piloting skills had managed to slip them through and away without too much delay. Finally out of danger, she put the ship on autopilot and leaned back in her seat.

Drakken sat in the co-pilot's seat beside her and handed her a glass. "There's no champagne on board, but I did find some soda pop. For now, we can toast with that," he said.

"Toast?" asked Shego, arching an eyebrow. She stretched as she lay back in her seat, popping a few joints.

"We have to celebrate my triumph," said Drakken.

"Your triumph," said Shego, putting just the smallest amount of sarcasm in her words.

"Oh, all right, our triumph," said Drakken, still in a supremely good mood.

"I suppose in this case, 'not dying' counts as a win," said Shego. She clinked her glass with Drakken's and they both drank. Then she looked at Drakken suspiciously. That doesn't mean you want to keep doing this kind of thing, does it?"

"What kind of thing?" said Drakken.

"You know. Fighting villains, stopping somebody else's evil plans, acting like… heroes?" Shego's voice cracked involuntarily on the last word.

"Heroes, Shego?" said Drakken, sounding mildly intrigued.

"Maybe… not **quite** heroes. But you know what I mean," said Shego.

Drakken tilted his glass back and forth in his hand. "What if I did want to keep doing 'this kind of thing'. Would you keep working for me?"

Shego's eyes flicked back and forth nervously. "Well, I… I…" she began, trailing off as she couldn't finish her sentences.

Drakken leaned in. "Yes, Shego?"

"I'd have to think about it…" said Shego.

Suddenly Drakken jumped to his feet, laughing. "Oh, psyche! Psyche! I totally got you. You were about to go for it, weren't you? You were completely on board to go play hero."

Shego stood up. "Shut up! I was not. I was just- Shut up!"

Drakken shook his hands dismissively. "Oh, don't even try. You know you were so going to say yes."

Shego clenched and unclenched her fists. Finally she said, "How would you like to spend the rest of the trip home on the outside of this airplane?"

Knowing she was serious, Drakken made a show of closing his mouth and making a zipping motion across it. After a moment of glaring, Shego settled back down in her seat. Drakken sat down beside her.

Drakken spoke again. "I did want to say, Shego. I was… very happy to see you when you broke back into the room at the end there."

Shego snorted. "I just bet you were."

"No, I'm serious. I really don't know what I'd do without you," said Drakken, no humor in his voice.

"Is this another psyche out?" asked Shego.

"I swear it's not," said Drakken.

There was a long moment of silence from Shego. Finally she spoke. "If there's one thing I learned from all this, it's that I don't know what I'd do without you either. I'm glad you're all right, you blue baboon." Then, shockingly, she leaned over and gave Drakken a quick hug.

"S-Shego," was all Drakken could say.

"If you ever tell anyone I did that, I'll kill you. And I am not kidding," said Shego.

Drakken nodded. There was uncomfortable silence for a while, and then he finally spoke. "I have a new plan to take over the world."

"Uh-huh," said Shego.

"This one is solid. I'm going to avoid the mistakes of past plans. I've finally figured out where I've been going wrong," said Drakken.

"And where have you been going wrong?"

"I don't want to jinx it by saying. In the meantime, I have a couple of assignments for you," said Drakken.

Shego glared.

"After you take some vacation time, I mean," said Drakken, quickly correcting himself.

"All right, I'll bite. What have you got for me?"

Drakken tapped his fingertips against each other. "First, we need to find out where I can secure an expert in cybertronic technology. Second, I want to know the name of the world's leading toy designer. Third…."

Even as Drakken spoke to Shego, his thoughts drifted back to the real secret behind his new plan. It was all so obvious now. Why had he always failed before? It was because he had never given one hundred percent. He had always slipped up, always slacked off at a crucial moment and things had come unraveled. The reason was that there were never any real consequences to failure. He had always known, in the back of his mind, that if he failed he could just go back and try again.

Not this time. This time Drakken would give it everything he had. If he did that, he knew he couldn't fail. He was Doctor Drakken, how could fail if he really gave it his all? To make sure he was fully committed, all he had to do was make one simple promise to himself. One simple promise that he would never have to keep.

_Never._

* * *

**Weeks Later**

**Shortly after the events of 'So the Drama'**

Drakken sat in the back of the police wagon, shaking. He had been so close, so close! He had almost won. He had done everything right, and somehow Kim Possible had beaten him. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. They had beaten him. He had failed. This one time, he had given it his all, no games or distractions, and he had failed.

What that meant… he didn't want to think about.

Beside him, Shego tried to shake the frizz out of her hair. It was still standing on end from the electric shock she had gotten after Kim Possible had booted her into the control tower. She couldn't use her hands to smooth it down, as they were still cuffed behind her.

"You think we should wait a few days before breaking out, Dr. D? I could use a little recovery time, and after the way the Diablos trashed _every city on the planet_, I think we're going to be higher on the most-wanted list than usual," said Shego.

She paused to wait for Drakken's response. He wasn't even looking at her. His eyes were fixed on the floor of the vehicle. "Drakken?" she asked after a moment.

Drakken grunted an unintelligible response.

Shego shrugged and settled back in her seat. Drakken obviously needed some time before he was ready to talk. She understood. They had come so close this time, even Shego had actually started to have some hope before being disappointed.

Drakken couldn't look at Shego. She didn't know. He hadn't told her about the promise he had made to himself.

The promise.

_One more try. I promised myself to give it one more try, giving it everything I have, and if didn't work, I'd quit. I'd take myself out of the world conquest business_, thought Drakken. That had been his deal. It was his secret promise to himself.

Of course, no one knew he had made the promise. He could break it, and no one would know. No one but Drakken himself. Drakken knew he was a bad man, but if you can't trust yourself, who can you trust? Besides….

Besides, if that was genuinely the best he could do, his best try at it, then what was the point of trying again? Kim Possible had beaten him fair and square. He now knew, once and for all, that he could never win.

_I refuse to spend my life in failure_, thought Drakken.

So that only left one question.

_What do I do now? And how do I convince Shego to go along with it?_

**The End.**

* * *

We've come to the end of our story, but something yet remains to be told. Return to_ Not Quite Heroes_ one final time, as your gentle author parts the veil of time to show you what lies **ten years in the future** for Drakken and Shego.

Next update, a little coda we just had to call… **Epilogue**

* * *

Author's Notes:

So, slightly over four weeks since my last update. Yeah, sorry about that. You know how it is. Hopefully the epilogue will come slightly faster. And I think I have a fic or two more in me after that.

So Shego falls out of the airship and on to a balloon. Things like that just seem to happen in the KP universe, don't they? Like Shego says, you could call it a sort of heroic karma. I also shamelessly played the clichés. 'Just hanging around'? Heh.

But I had to give Dr. Director a gun. C'mon, the Global Justice guys are all wearing holsters! They can't pull guns cause it's Disney, but we all know what's supposed to be in those holsters.

And speaking of Dr. Director, doesn't she rock? I think that she's going to have to hold on to the 'toughest person in the world' title a few years before passing it on to Kim. She certainly got on Shego's nerves.

Why did Drakken agree to have Shego to stop his Firebreak machine? I thought about giving a peek into his thoughts, but it didn't seem to fit with the flow of the story and… Well, I think I'll just leave it to you readers to decide what was going through his head.

Anyway, I hope I got the interaction between Drakken and Shego right in this last chapter, even with the delays. They've been both changed by the experiences of this little adventure and not changed at all. Eh, I can only hope it's all in the story.

Not quite as many surprises and misdirections this chapter, but I really hope we coasted into a satisfying conclusion for the story. And make no mistake, despite the epilogue that is coming, this was the conclusion. So please, write in, comment, let me know what you think of the story as a whole.

I'd like to know.

And speaking of comments, it's time for my usual round of thanks for everybody who has dropped one.

Thanks to: Jezrianna2.0, campy, Zoko, heavensong, Happy-Raven, Gundum M, and MaggieLimerick for your comments.

Jez, I don't think Gemini had any particular plans for the Twin Squad, other than that he thought they would be a useful think to have around. As for Project Firebreak, it had magic mad science effects that only Drakken, and probably not even him, really understood. You notice even gunpowder didn't work inside it! Yet it didn't affect Shego's powers…. Strange, eh?

Oh, and thanks to Caren H for your comment on 'High School Evil' and surforst for your recent comment on '81 Percent of Her Heat'. Much appreciated. I should really do more one-shots.

Till next time!


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